Newbie Who May Or May Not Have Cancer

Hello Forester,  It's not too bad a procedure, don't worry.  Have a bit of sedation if they offer it (usually a canula in the hand).  It's a little undignified, of course, but for them to get the information they need for a proper diagnosis it's the main active step in your treatment!  (I speak as something of a colonoscopy veteran.)   

With the state of the NHS as the moment, you're one of the lucky ones who is actually getting treatrment!!!  Good luck.

Cheers Fortimac 

Another veteran here !

It really is not that terrible, I too advise taking any drugs offered, if not ask.!

Will be thinking of you - good luck.

certainly welcoming the sedation to come - hate to think of the procedure without it 

Hi Arthur

Thinking off you mate - well done for getting this far with sense of humour intact!

Hope all goes well and think how lovely it will be when the procedure is over

all the best

Mark

Colonoscopy done but with some worrying results. Great assistance getting there by my Landlord team, much thanks and kudos there. Lots of waiting round even though the only patient in. Told to slip into horrid shorts with a big slit up the bum, - the medics, despite being used to seeing bare unsexy flesh all left the room, with instructions on me to open the door when ready for their return, an instruction they then ignored for45 minutes.  

Had to have a needle for the access tube for my sedative, and it took three painful stabs to do it – I really hate needles.  The sedative made me feel zero different than not taking one – disappointed not to get legally stoned.  

Saw my innards on a wide screen TV and realized my large intestine is now a computer game – nearly Xmas folks ……  It was clear even to me that several dark blotches and blood staining had no real place there.  After the camera was pulled I got a quick briefing.  

Some of the bowel is enlarged and obstructed by what seems likely to be cancerous. It is slowing down the digestive process causing material to backlog up though there is a small gap it can get through, but not the Endoscope trying to go the other way.  I will now need to go in for further tests and scans  in the next few weeks which the hospital is arranging.  I had to give blood samples – another injection – and finally got released back into the wild. Lady who took the bloods was horrible – “Can’t do it while you’ve got your coat on@ (I had to travel round the hospital to her department) – Started slipping the coat off – “No, come and sit down on this chair and then you can take your coat off. Sat down. “Coat off!”  I handed her the requirements list for the bloods which she sent off immediately without logging my personal details, so I had to write my name, number, date of birth etc for her as she nit-picked my writing at every step – so glad to get away from her.  

Hi Arthur

firstly really sorry for not replying sooner, this site has been sending me duplicate notifications all over the place but none about your post, I’m really upset about not being notified of this post I was looking last night to see how you got on

Bloody awful day for you. Be really good to yourself you completely deserve some good things right now. So sorry to learn of your diagnosis. Deep breathes and one step at a time.

Blood nurse sounds like a real piece of work, so unsympathetic, unbelievable, obviously doesn’t understand the ‘care’ bit of ‘healthcare’!

huge cyber hug to you Arthur

hope you can have a better day today

all the best

mark

Hello there Forrester42, I was thinking of you yesterday.   Well, you got through it OK-ish, but some of it sounds a bit "brusque".   In my experience, the battle-axe you encountered is very much the exception.  SHe must have been having a bad day, or something.  I have found the doctors/nurses/technicians that I've come across during all this business have been quite exceptionally caring and at worst efficient but most are really friendly and understanding.  

You may not have felt delightfully stoned by the sedative, but It's a lot better than without, I can assure you (having had a couple of endoscopes "without", myself).  I hate needles, too, but I'm afraid that you need to (and will) get used to it.  I don't like needles either, and they have trouble with my veins every time.  It's the last thing you need, but some of us have veins which dodge at the approach of a needle!  The trick is to try and relax, "lie back and think of England".  I'm such a wuss that I can feel (and even in the past actually) faint.  If there is a couch in the room I always ask for that rather than a chair.  These weaknesses of mine actually pale into insignificance when I think through the situations that they are actually doing their best to save my life!  I admire that you actually managed to look at the monitor as the camera was making its merry way through your guts - I'm not up to that!

Anyway, now you have the diagnosis and the biopsies will be analysed.  The next thing is likely to be a gathering of a team of medics to review your case.  You'll then be invited to a meeting with them (e.g. surgeon, allocated nurse(s) & possibly oncologist) who will discuss with you the treatment options and decide on a preferred plan.

If possible, take a partner or friend with you as it's a very important meeting and it's not easy to accurately remember (or in my case actually hear!) the important facts. (I have posted elsewhere in the Community that it is legitimate to actually make a recording of consultations.)

Well, you're now on your way with treatment! As they say "Join the Club"! We'll all here as reluctant but grateful members. (It's a sobering thought that due to the apparently necessary rationing of treatment in he NHS, because of  The Plague, those of use getting some care are the lucky ones!)

Good luck, keep posting.

I was mesmerized by the camera footage, like watching something from the movie Fantastic Voyage, they did say there would be a meeting of consultants to discuss options on what to do for me. Bizarre to think I'm going on the agenda for a team meeting by such highly qualified medics. Apart from the battle-axe the staff at Royal Preston were all really lovely to me - might well record the meeting with me - great advice here from everyone, thanks all round