I have been experiencing symptoms related to my bowel health for about a year, worsening in the past couple of months. This prompted a GP appointment. Blood tests have shown that I am anaemic and I have been referred to a gastroenterologist to investigate my symptoms further. My father died of stomach cancer in his early '60s and I was diagnosed and treated for high risk bladder cancer in 2015. I had complex hip surgery in October 2019 and I have been offered the same surgery for the other hip next month. As I have been waiting a long time for surgery I feel that it would be beneficial to go ahead. I currently have a significant leg length discrepancy which makes life difficult, among other things. My dilemma is that the consultant gastroenterologist has said that I require colonoscopy and possibly other endoscopic investigation to address my symptoms. It is thought that passing blood over some time may have caused my anaemia. Realistically, if I proceed with the investigations for my current symptoms, I will be sacrificing the long awaited date for my hip surgery. What should I do? Clearly, the reason I have written this on the MacMillan community forum means that I have an appreciation of the possible diagnosis for my bowel symptoms.
Hi and welcome to the online community
I'm sorry to read that you have been experiencing problems with your bowels but it sounds like investigations are in full swing.
I can see your dilemma but maybe the two procedures won't clash. Could you leave the operation in place for next month and then only cancel it if the other investigations clash? Also, you may be able to alter the dates of the colonoscopy, etc if they do want to do them at the same time.
Let us know how you get on
x
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