Hey all.
I have a random question. I was diagnosed with bowel cancer last year. Had a resection in December and lymph nodes were all clear. Pretty plain sailing and I had a pain free good recovery so I’m extremely lucky and happy. On Thursday I had a really severe pain in my back. It literally took my breath away and never subsided. I honestly thought I’ve pulled a muscle but I’d just walked from my car to my desk so was a bit confused. Had a terrible nights sleep with pain on Thursday night so Friday I thought I’d contact the doctor. She was not happy and was concerned it was a blood clot and told me to attend A and E. If the pain got worse I should call an ambulance. I spent 6 hours in and and had blood tests and a CT scan and they felt it’s my gallbladder because of the type of pain and where it’s located. Has anyone else had an issue with their gallbladder after bowel cancer? I don’t understand but they said the gallbladder would not show up on a CT scan and I need an ultrasound which the GP needs to refer me for. You will understand which rabbit hole my head is going with this one. When I had my initial scan for bowel cancer would they have looked at my gallbladder? Can bowel cancer cause issues further up the line in the gallbladder?
Hi Scoutabout
My cancer was different, but I have had my rectum removed and have stomas so that’s my bowel experience! I just noticed you hadn’t had any answers yet to your question so thought I’d share my experience to see if it might help.
I had a period of feeling very unwell a couple of years ago and my first thought was that my cancer was back. I went to a&e and was given a ct scan where they told me the issue was with my gallbladder, so the ct does most definitely see your gallbladder, though an ulstrasound would give a different of image so may also be suitable in reaching a conclusion. My scan showed multiple gallstones and it turned out that I had been experiencing multiple gallbladder attacks. These are extremely painful and can last a long time. I’ve had many pelvic and chest/thorax scans in the past, and ct scans, and my issue had been picked up in 2018 on an mri but left at the time to deal with my cancer first.
Long story short, eventually I had my gallbladder removed and pathology showed no cancer. I recovered very well from this despite the surgery being difficult as I had already been through a total pelvic exenteration. So for me, my worry was the cancer returning, but it wasn’t-my gallbladder problem was completely unconnected.
I understand the fear of cancer when something else happens, as I was the same, but I just wanted to say it really might be your gallbladder and nothing as serious as cancer. I’m sorry I can’t help more but just wanted to try and give some hope to you that it may well be unconnected with your previous bowel cancer.
Sarah xx
It may be that the focus was on the possibility of a clot of course so attention wasn’t on the gallbladder. When I went to a&e the scan was general of that whole area. I never mentioned I had gall stones-never even considered that because my gp had diagnosed a urine infection over the phone! This was with no urine test and not considering the colour of urine and stools which should have been a red flag in my case.
I was so scared my cancer was back because I’d already had one recurrence and it dominated my thoughts. Since my recurrence and surgery I’ve had numerous issues which have turned out to be completely unconnected-my gallbladder, a blocked bile duct, jaundice, pancreatitis, breast cyst, lesion on my face, being diagnosed with chronic kidney disease and then I had a stroke! I’m getting better at not assuming everything is cancer now! There are so many things that can happen which happen for everyone else too but our cancer experience is always at the back of our minds.
Gallbladder issues are really common-and I hope you can get reassurance that your issue isn’t serious. My surgeon told me my gallbladder had to come out as the attacks would continue unless I had surgery and I’ve been fine ever since.
Sarah xx
You are right. I feel let down because I’m in awful pain but because I looked well they referred me back to my GP. I looked well when I was diagnosed with cancer too 
. You’d think after cancer we’d be spared the other illnesses especially so close together!! The doctor did say that removing the gallbladder should be considered if I get many bouts of pain but this one hasn’t finished so not sure what that means.
I've seen some of my CT reports and they mention gall stones so those are definitely visible. But there are other potential problems with the gallery bladder that may be better diagnosed with an ultrasound.
I think if it was cancer, they'd have seen it in the CT.
It's terrifying to have anything else go wrong once you've had cancer. Everything brings up the fear of the cancer returning. I don't know how long we'll live in fear like this but I expect it will take years to feel comfortable again if we ever do.
And it is completely unfair that we get other illnesses after we fought cancer. There needs t9 be an option out option. 
