To Sheepy & PJJ - A Very Lucky Winner

Unknown

Sheepy and PJJ, this is my favorite topic too. There is colon cancer history in my husband's family...his dad died of the damn disease at age 57...so in his early 40's, dispite protest from "the medical community, my husband starting having sigs, not knowing, just like you Sheepy, that the sig doesn't catch/see everything. This went on for several years and always negative.

At age 51, they finally recommended a colonoscopy and it was at that point that we were told that sigs only go half way (duh...we thought we were having everything checked) but not to worry as sigs are usually good indicators if something is up. While that may be true because apparently more activity goes on in that area of the colon, in our particular case it was totally WRONG!!!!!! Bert had a colonoscopy and there it was, big, bright, and monsterous...two tumors in the cecum (right) colon which the sigs never reach and to make matters worse, right at the iliocecal value...exactly where his dad's had been. It had completely eroded the value, broken through the bowl wall, and took out four lymph nodes...making him stage three. Surgeon estimated growth time well over 5 years!!!!!! The rest is history and I'm here on this board today because of the unbelievable idiocracy of the medical community to still classify colon cancer as a disease for "older people."

Monika, who still get's so mad when she thinks about it she could spit fire.

2bhealed

KEEP spitting Monika and maybe someday they will wise up! Not.

Can you believe that they never suggested we get colonoscopies after my sister died of it? No one in 9 years ever said to even after I gave them my health history which included her early death (33) with no prior history. They just all underscored my assumption that her cancer was rare.

peace, emily

Unknown

2bhealed said:

KEEP spitting Monika and maybe someday they will wise up! Not.

Can you believe that they never suggested we get colonoscopies after my sister died of it? No one in 9 years ever said to even after I gave them my health history which included her early death (33) with no prior history. They just all underscored my assumption that her cancer was rare.

peace, emily

Emily, I think that totally sucks!!!!! You should spit great balls of fire (as Sponge would say) do I hear Jerry Lee Lewis somewhere in there. How many more younger folks will have to be affected by this awful, awful disease before the medical community and INSURANCE COMPANIES finally wise up? Look at baby girl Andrea...and there are plenty more of her out there. I work with a lady whose daughters main goal is to reach her 21st birthday. Diagnosed stage 4 at 19!!!! Break my heart and just makes me sick.

Monika, who will never stop preaching on this subject....NEVER!!! Emily, hugs to you :-)

Sheepy

Hi, glad to know it's not just me.
I know that doctors involved in my case acted professionally to current guidelines, my family history of COLON cancer wasn't that strong (certainly no early onset), but I was lucky that my doctor acted correctly when presented with unexplained anaemia - colonoscopy. I was diagnosed quickly, treated quickly, and though stage 3 I think I have a good chance. But if that same doctor had offered sigmoidoscopy and found nothing, I would have gone away still worried, but reassured. I might not have gone back for a year or two - and then I might have been stage 4.
Contributors to this board are often quite young (in colon cancer terms), and we get a distorted view of the predominance of non-sigmoid cancers, but it doesn't change the fact that diagnosis guidelines are driven by financial and statistical targets (particularly in the UK with its single national health service).
Many doctors either don't understand the reasons for the guidelines, and therefore recognise where exceptions might be made, or fail to explain their diagnosis/treatment plan to their patients. My doctor is excellent - some aren't.