Small Hard Lump up inside Rectum

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I've been searching to see if anyone else on here has had a similar symptom, so thought I'd start a new thread - particularly should anyone in future come searching for similar symptoms.

For the past four weeks, I've felt - intermittently - as if there was something in my anal canal low down.

A GP saw me yesterday and did a DRE (Digital Rectal Examination - with finger) and she felt a small hard lump up my rectum and has put me on the cancer pathway to get it looked at by a colorectal consultant (not anal cancer department, I noticed on her referral letter which I found in my NHS App).

I will update as I go along in case anyone else searches for a similar symptom.

I thought the sensation of the lump in my anal canal was to do with my vaginal atrophy and was possibly a rectocele forming, so was I shocked when she did a cancer referral. 

So it's the waiting game for me now - for appointment and results. Expecting the worst, but hoping for the best.

I should add I recently did a QFiT test which came a couple of weeks ago which back normal last week (I had a diverticular flare-up in March) - though reading some of the other threads a normal QFiT test doesn't always mean anything, though I guess it's a bit reassuring. 

I had a colonoscopy in 2022 as a QFiT test back then showed blood in sample, and some polyps were taken away and some were sent for analysis (which came back normal).

At the moment, I have no bleeding or pain, and no CHIB (change in bowel habits - at the moment well-formed stools 2-3 times a day, depending on how big my meals have been) - just this strange sensation in my anal canal low down which comes and goes, though the GP put on her referral letter it was at the back left. (When I logged into my NHS App I could see her referral letter and she marked it on the Macmillan Safety Net criteria as that she was "Unsure it is cancer and could have other causes"). 

After the appointment when I got home, I put on a glove with lube and felt and I could see what she meant. A small hard lump about a finger length up (though to me it felt in the middle, not back left. I'm guessing nothing at all should be felt inside the rectum).

In 2017 I had three 'In Situ" melanomas removed, so I think my surgery take that into account, hence the referral.

I will update in due course.

  • Hi  and a warm welcome to the bowel page. Thankyou for your post - as you say it is always helpful for others searching for similar situations. The waiting game is tough but hopefully you will get an appointment through soon and be thoroughly checked out. It may well be a polyp particularly as you have had some removed in the past but always good to get a professional opinion 

    Please let us know how you get on?

    Take care

    Karen x

    Macmillan Support Line - 0808 808 00 00, 7 days a week between 8am-8pm
  • Thank you, Karen - I certainly will post an update in due course with further details. 

  • I have been given a face-to-face appointment with a colorectal consultant on 10th July.  I will update further after that.

    I was surprised as, even though the lump is low down to be felt by finger, I was expecting to have another colonoscopy or sigmoidoscopy so that the lump could be seen through a camera, so I guess I'll just have to wait and see. 

    (Also the wording the Dr used in my referral letter was "small firm lump" (not "hard lump") - not sure if that makes any difference, maybe the language used isn't that significant).

    Thank you.