Don’t always listen to your doctor

Hi on the 5th April I had the results back from my FIT test and it was 24.2, my doctor told me whilst I was driving in the car that it has come back high and that I had bowel cancer!!! I said I'm going on holiday in 10 days time and I was told to cancel the holiday I wouldn't be able to go, I was told I would be put in the 2 w cancer path way and would be contacted for a colonoscopy, I remember saying would I be ok, the reply was well if they have caught it early enough you can have a operation but it's a horrible operation!! I just couldn't believe what I was hearing I got out of the car and burst into tears then rang my husband to say what the doctor had told me!!

Now 1 week and a day I got a call from the hospital to book me in for the colonoscopy, which I wouldn't be able to have it till the 9th May, it seemed ages waiting and the anxiety that I suffered was awful every ache and pain I said to my self it must be the cancer!!  A few days before the scan you have to go on a kind of diet, mash eggs cheese and white bread was mainly what I could eat, 24 hours before my scan I couldnt eat at all. I then had to start the plenvu bowl  cleaning drink, which to be honest was horrible I put ice cubes in it which helped a lot and had a hard orange lolly to suck on in between sips, you eventually get in down!! Then the bowels start to work by the end of both drinks my bum felt like it was on fire  it was so sore I used sudocream and that helped a lot.

I'm now at the hospital waiting to have my scan I couldn't praise them enough the doctors nurses were all so kind, I met my consultant before the procedure and his words were that fit test is not very high I am 99% sure you will not have cancer it will be polyps or haemorrhoids but let's go and see, I opted for sedation but I could see the screen where you can see your bowels the whole time it just made me feel relaxed and I couldn't feel any pain at all, it was over and the doctor said yes what I thought it's haemorrhoids!! I was over the moon !

So if this sounds  like your case please do not worry, we will be complaining to the doctors as I went through 5 weeks of what if, and lots of worry all for nothing. 

good luck and lots of love to you xxxxx

  • I find it hard to believe any Doctor would say that to anyone Doctors are professionals and they know what to say and what not to say ,there's no way they would scare someone like that when they hadn't even been diagnosed with anything .

  • What a horrific story [@Tiggy10]‍ glad all was ok in the end though!  I went to see my GP a few months ago and he was more interested in a mole on my face, he told me he thought it was cancer and that he was referring me to a specialist.  Fancy going to the GP about your leg and being told you have cancer on your face!  Anyway, I never believed him - primarily because this mole has been on my face for about 30 years!! and then the specialist refused to see me anyway as it looked fine :).  A few weeks later I'm seeing a different GP for a lump in my breast, she told me she thought it was just a fybro thing but turns out I do indeed have breast cancer.  Seems they can't get it right!

  • I think Dr's are like any other human, they suffer anxieties the same as anyone else and sometimes this makes them prone to particular diseases, they may have family members which the same diagnosis and/or have patients who have died from diseases that they then look out for in other patients.  Some will tell you inappropriate things and some will not have perfect people or communication skills.  In this day and age you have to own your own body/issues and be prepared to advocate for yourself and research to confirm what you are being told. 

  • All I can say is I was given the same result over the phone and not even from a Doctor he was an advanced Nurse and he was so professional and put me at ease instantly by saying my test although elevated did not mean it was cancer in any way he said there are so many other things that it is more likely to be ,so that's why I am a bit wary when hearing things like this .