My dad (79) went to his GP before Christmas because he was feeling sick/being sick occasionally and had a loss of appetite. He’s had prostate cancer for the last 12 years so his GP said he’d get his PSA tested (which was due about now) and would write to his consultant. His consultant wrote back to him and said there had been a slight rise in his PSA which she wasn’t worried about and that she didn’t think him feeling unwell was anything to do with his prostate cancer. But she ordered a CT and MRI. He’s not heard back from his consultant about those scans (from a prostate perspective) but his GP called to say 'something' had shown on his duodenum on the CT and he’s to do a stool sample. So now I’m panicking about what the something is and what they’re looking for. Unfortunately dad hasn't asked any questions and seems happy to let the process run it's course. However, the lack of information is really panicking me! I thought if it was a cancer that the CT would more or less confirm that so I’m wondering why they want a stool sample? I thought a stool sample was usually the first step in testing so I'm confused about what they are looking for. My mum had similar issues last year where she was anaemic and the first step was a stool sample (which was clear) followed by a colonoscopy (also clear).
any advice would be really appreciated, particularly around the sequence of tests.
