Bowel Cancer

D101 19 days ago

1 reply
35 subscribers
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Hello,

I was diagnosed with stage 3 bowel cancer in April. I have since undergone radiotherapy and chemotherapy. My chemotherapy finished on 11th October and a week later I had an endoscopy.

This came back all clear and I had an MRI and Ct scan on 18th November and I was told last week that they are all clear and so I don't need surgery and I'm now on Watch and Wait, with my next lot of scans due at the end of January.

All this was a huge relief as you can imagine and the best news I could have hoped for.

However yesterday I started bleeding again when passing stools. Something that had stopped months ago.

Obviously I will inform my doctor after the Christmas break but I'm just worried that it might mean the cancer has returned.

Can the cancer return that quickly and give me symptoms (it's been a month since my scans) showed nothing)

This has been a huge shock after such good news last week.

I have just read something about late starting effects of the chemo. I'd not heard of this, is this common and a possibility?

Thank you.

Lynsay - Macmillan 19 days ago

Hello D101

Thank you for getting in touch with us today. My name is Lynsay, and I am one of the Cancer Information Nurses with Macmillan Cancer Support.

I see you are new to the online community. I hope you find this to be a helpful and supportive space.

I am sorry that you have started experiencing a symptom again. This can be especially hard after having had a clear scan so recently. To get such good news and then to feel the shock and worry this symptom may be causing you.

I would love to be able to offer you some reassurance about this symptom but unfortunately, we have no way of knowing what is causing this at present. Having a recent clear scan can give a sense of some reassurance but we can’t take that as a certainty.

You mentioned that you would inform your doctor after the Christmas break, but we would encourage you to report this new symptom straight away. You can make contact through your cancer nurse specialist or call the oncology department at the hospital you attend to report this. There will be some cover over the festive period.

The sooner you report this, the quicker they can assess this for you and arrange further checks. You should also seek more urgent assessment if you are passing quite a bit of blood during bowel movements, or if the amount of blood you do pass increases, you can contact the out of hours service on 111.

You had asked about late effects from treatment and whether this could be a cause of the bleeding. There is a possibility this symptom may be related to the treatment you have had, however even if this is the cause, this should still be reported as soon as possible.

I understand that this can be a difficult time of year to get in touch with your hospital team, but any new, changing, and worsening symptoms should be reported as soon as possible.

All the very best

Lynsay

Cancer Information Nurse Specialist

Phone free on 0808 808 0000 (7 days a week, 8am-8pm) or send us an email. If you think it may be useful to chat things over in real time, we have our webchat service available 7 days a week 8am-8pm.

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Bowel Cancer