After 2 & 1/2 years

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Hi All,

After successful recovery from high anterior resection i have just been diagnosed with Testicular Cancer which at the ripe old age of 62 i thought a little strange, that said i was a little bemused that after all this time on surveillance it was not detected by CT Scans or blood tests, apparently the CEA antigen test does not highlight this cancer type.

Anyway, i found a lump and went to the doctors, within 5 weeks i had 3 blood tests, chest X-ray and CT Scan and today had pre opp assessment with operation booked for next week so happy with the speed of the investigations.

My question is why surveillance tests do not scan for all cancer types and has anyone else had this situation ?

Technical Guru

Best wishes to all

CrumpetsOrToast over 2 years ago

Hi Technical guru.

I guess testing for all cancers maybe like asking GP to know all viruses?

It would be great if we all had gene tests thst showed potential risks - lets hope NICE adopts to the 15 gene markers as best practice soon as 1st step.

And it would be great if our blood tests were wider - from vitamin levels through to all cancer markers. I wonder if it is mainly resource levels and cost that mean it's not feasible for NHS to do it. It guess it will be same reason for scan + adverse risks of scanning us too much.

I'm on a further surprise 2 wk waitlist journey and i haven't finish treatment for my 1st cancer yet . So i would of course support more proactive monitoring.

Good luck for op next week.

court over 2 years ago

Hi Technical guru

So sorry to hear that . Certainly not what you expect in your 60s.

I notice all my mum’s scans are abdomen and chest ! Never venture higher or lower as that’s the most prominent sites of recurrence for bowel . I guess time snd money must be the driving force or so I have always assumed !
Must ask around but that has always been my assumption. The only time she was potentially heading for a brain scan it was listed on its own .

Others may have better information.

Hope it goes well with the surgery .

Court

Helpline Number 0808 808 0000

court over 2 years ago in reply to court

Sorry to hear that too CrumpetsOrToast are you doing ok ? That sounds a lot to process.

Here for you .

Court

Helpline Number 0808 808 0000

PattyK over 2 years ago

Sorry to hear that! My husband is 69 and only found out he had bowel cancer two years ago after apparently the tumour being dormant for 4 years previous to that without showing symptoms it was only at the end of 2020 symptoms began to surface. His scans have always been for the chest pelvis and abdomen. Certainly not the way he envisaged his retirement constantly doing rounds of hospitals GP surgeries clinics etc when he worked 40+ years and very seldom seen the inside of these places. Good Luck for your operation.