Hi everyone, I’m Mark. 30 years old.
No matter who you are, you find yourself researching for answers when you have / might have an issue - I’d tell my patients off all the time for doing it! (student paramedic)! Anyway, a previous patient told me about this forum before I thought I had an issue, so I came along and had a read when I was being investigated and I’m glad I did, the reassurance was immense. I’ve returned after finding a suspicious mole, and thought I’d share my experience in hope that it might just lower the blood pressure of someone else who reads it.
Anyway, it’s not all bad news and I wanted to share my short but still personally worrying experience. For as long as I can remember my bowel habits were odd, extreme cramps and diarrhoea triggered by poor sleeps, caffeine and anxiety. Come May 24, I noticed an initially sharp to dull ache and heaviness that bounced from left arm pit down to lower abdomen coupled with a change in bowel habits. Cancer runs in my maternal family, 7 out of 9 of these being bowel cancer. Currently, my great aunt (83) is the only survivor of the bowel cancer in the family and has done for around 10 years, she is doing very well with her colostomy bag. The closest relative was my mother’s sister, who died in 2021 at 58 with an aggressive metastatic form. So cue the worry.
(I should mention, most of those bowel cancer deaths were diagnosed in the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s when medicine was nowhere near what it is now. So don’t stress by reading about my family statistics!)
I go to the doctor and explain the situation, on examination he didn’t find any tenderness or lumps, though with the family history he was concerned and immediately orders bloods and stools. The days of waiting were torture, and with the history in the family I had convinced myself it would be bad news, and then I get an update from doctor - everything negative and well below any thresholds to warrant further investigation, and relative bloods were not concerning at all (although they did incidentally find high cholesterol and kidney function of 79%, which I’ve been routinely referred to the endocrinologist/lipid clinic about). Since, my symptoms reverted back to ‘my normal’ and the GP manages it as IBS.
Anyway, the point of the story is if one person reads it - it’s not the end of the world, even with significant history in my family, some changes doesn’t mean cancer - and I hope this post can offer some reassurance to someone somewhere. I’m very thankful that nothing more sinister came of it, but it definitely was alarming enough to become more in-tune with my body, and be kinder to it. For everyone else on here and my patients I’ve seen on the road who are fighting with every ounce of ferocity, bravery and strength - you are some of the most amazing people I’ve ever been humbled enough to talk to. KEEP STRONG.
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I think I’m going to be a lot more active in this community now, as I’ve developed a bit of an interest in oncology with my experiences coupled with this amazing community, so I’m happy to chat to folk if someone needs to let off some built up emotion.
Take care :)
Mark
