Hi everyone
My partner came home from hospital with leaflets, one titled “What is Cancer” and I can’t remember the other one as my partner whisked them away when I started to panic. They have said they ‘can’t rule out cancer’, but how normal is it to receive these leaflets before diagnosis?
He went to the Dr’s last week and was referred to SDEC the next day. He’s had a long history of bowel issues, and a pile for at least two years. From looking at his notes they wanted to rule out a GI bleed, but were concerned that the pile isn’t a pile.
They did blood tests, which showed high WBC, an ultrasound which I don’t think showed anything, and requested additional fecal samples (a FIT test and looks like others to rule out Crohns/IBS). When he went to the bathroom, he noticed the pile was now a small fist size. He said it definitely wasn’t like that a few weeks ago. He is to go back on Tuesday for more tests.
He has had other symptoms such as night sweats, lethargy, nausea, no appetite, and yesterday a trip to A&E for thunderclap headaches, which a brain CT showed as clear.
Obviously we are thinking the worst despite it potentially being a multitude of other things, but I am concerned the doctors are preparing us for the worst. Has anyone had a similar experience?
Thank you for taking the time to read this, and appreciate any insight (good or bad)!
Hi QJelly and welcome to Macmillan.
I’m sorry you’ve been made anxious by the leaflets you’ve received for your husband. I can appreciate this must have been a bit upsetting when he is still undergoing tests.
I only received literature about my cancer after I had a confirmed diagnosis. Prior to that I was given leaflets on the procedures I was going to undergo as part of the diagnostic process.
I don’t know how common it is to receive a cancer leaflet prior to diagnosis, but it’s common to want to rule cancer out when doing tests. Your husband seems to have a number of symptoms which are causing some concern, so it’s good that he is going for some further investigations. The doctors will not know yet if any type of cancer is present or not, but they need to be thorough to get the right answers for you both. They might have a suspicion that cancer could be the cause of the symptoms, so perhaps want you to be aware in advance that this might be the case. I can imagine, however, that it would be unsettling to read about cancer at this point.
We do have different support groups within the community for various cancers and cancer experiences, so if your husband does receive a cancer diagnosis it would be helpful to join some or any of the groups -these are both for patients and carers/friends and family.
I’ll give you a couple of links here which might be useful
I hope that there is a more simple explanation than cancer, but there will be support from the community for you both, whatever the results.
Sarah xx
