Hi everyone!

I'm absolutely petrified at the moment and was hoping someone might be able to share their experiences and wisdom.

Bit of my back story - I'm 28 years old with three kids - an 11, 8 and 2 year old, I'm self-employed with an extremely stressful life, I don't eat very well, I smoke a vaporiser, don't get anywhere near enough sleep and am a bit overweight. I lost my mum when she was in her early forties to Colon Cancer. When we found it, it had already spread to her liver, lungs and spleen, and we were given 1-2 years, but she passed away after just 8 months. To say it was traumatic is a huge understatement, I've suffered from anxiety ever since and still haven't processed it properly.

Anyway about six weeks ago I noticed blood streaks in my poos which then became clots within a two week period and then went back to streaks. My habits changed massively - really constipated some days, loose stools and diarrhoea the next. Really smelly too! I'm always tired because of my lifestyle, so I can't judge if there were any other symptoms. In all honesty I never really checked my poo before the day I noticed so I'm unsure how long I had the streaks for (I know I should given my family history but I'd always thought I was too young) but I went straight to the GP. I did everything right - I pestered doctors who told me it was stress or IBS or colitis and finally they gave up telling me to calm down and sent me for a colonoscopy on Monday. I wasn't really expecting them to find anything as I already suffer from alopecia and get hives regularly so I'd placed money on it being some form of autoimmune.

Well, they found a 12mm pit type IIIs pedunculated polyp and removed it, tattooed where he got it out from and also took 8 random biopsies. I'm now an absolute shivering mess. I can't sleep. I feel awful and I'm just so scared. The surgeon said it didn't look cancerous but 8 biopsies is a lot and from what I can see on Google a 12mm polyp is pretty big I think! I'm still bleeding (which I expected due to the biopsies) but I'm overthinking everything and expecting the worst. They mentioned having me in for regular colonoscopies in the future and told me to speak with my GP when my results come in (3-6 weeks). They also touched on it potentially being a longterm hereditary condition so now I'm sat here at almost 1 am worrying that my body is already brewing another one up and that I'm living with a countdown clock inside me.

I've got a few questions and if anyone could answer even one of them I'd be incredibly grateful.

1. Is having 8 biopsies normal? It feels like a lot considering he said the polyp didn't look cancerous.

2. Is a 12mm polyp large? 

3. Does anyone else have regular colonoscopies? If so, please please tell me there is another way to clear your system - Moviprep as that was almost worst than the colonoscopy!

4. Could I have cancer and it not be present in the polyp?

5. Is it even possible to look at a polyp and say it's cancer-free or can it not be definite until it's been biopsied?

6. The surgeon mentioned some sort of hereditary thing it could be? Does anyone have this and if so, how has it impacted their life?

I appreciate I probably sound like I'm overreacting and I know it could have been a lot worse and I should be super grateful. It's just Colon cancer is my biggest fear after losing my mum and now it's completely consuming me with worry.

P.s if anyone is booked in for a colonoscopy and wants some reassurance, let me know as I'm more than happy to talk about my experience.