Back in September when I was on holiday abroad I very suddenly got a crippling pain in my back. I spent the last 5 days of the holiday holed up in the hotel room. Even going to walk to the toilet was pure agony and I had to use a chair back as support. I saw a local doctor who diagnosed osteoarthritis in my lower spine! He prescribed me loads of painkillers and muscle relaxants, some of which are banned in the UK. Anyway they helped a lot to the extent is was able to shower and make it down to the restaurant for dinner with my wife.

Going home I had to have wheelchair assistance at the airport and also on arriving at our home airport (at 1:00 AM!). The 3hr 30 min flight was pure agony the whole way.

Anyway to cut a long story short I was diagnosed by our local NHS surgery as having a Herniated Disc in my lower back. Apparently these can take months to heal. Anyway as precaution my GP requested for me both a MRI scan and a CT scan. 
A blood test showed I was anaemic and a poo test showed my FIT to be nearly 400! This incidental finding means that my diagnosis has now changed to possible CRC. 
I had a colonoscopy today but it had to be abandoned as my bowel was poorly prepared! This despite following the instructions from the hospital exactly as given. I won’t go into the details only that it was extremely unpleasant and I had to shower and wash all my clothes when I got home. I did ask the colonoscopist what had gone wrong and he just said it sometimes happens! 
I will be invited for a repeat sometime in the next two weeks but so frustrating and disappointing as I’ve been anxious about doing this ever since I got the colonoscopy appointment letter. Now I’m going to have to repeat all in the near future!
Tomorrow AM MRI scan of my abdomen. I’m not expecting any complications with this!

I feel well apart from my sore and stiff back. None of the other symptoms usually associated with CRC. So fingers crossed for a good outcome