colon mass

HRam
HRam Member Posts: 16
in Colorectal Cancer #1
Hi all,

I'm new to this forum and this is the first post I make. I recently had a colonscopy due to suferring from bloody bowel movements in which a mass was dicovered. The doctor who perfomed the procedure initially told my wife it was cancer from what he saw in the photographs that he took. I went back a couple of days later to obtain the pathology results which came back negative (good news I hope). I'm being scheduled for surgery with an oncology surgeon in a few weeks. Is it common to have a negative pathology result and it still have it come back to be cancer?

Comments

  • Buzzard
    Buzzard Member Posts: 3,043 Member
    #2
    I will take a shot at this..........
    HRam,
    Pathology is usually spot on with their results....Most often gastroenterologists (whew say that 10 x) are pretty thorough as well, but its hard to miss with pathology...I can't and won't tell you what it is, I don't know but I think if path says its benign then my bets are on benign...and that would be excellent for you......Keep us informed....buzz
  • okthen
    okthen Member Posts: 232
    #3
    Hi HRam, I just thought I
    Hi HRam, I just thought I would tell you my husbands story.... He too had a mass that the path. came back benign. The mass was removed during a 2nd colonoscopy, different doctor. 2nd path also came back benign, but Doctor recommended he TEMs procedure...( a "scooping" out of the colon wall) to be safe.
    My husband and I just continued to hold onto that the pathology was negative, he did not have the procedure.

    Move ahead 5 months, he had a follow up colonoscopy, he was diagnosed with stage 3 colorectal cancer. He has had a resection and is currently in chemo.

    I just want to tell you this, not to scare you, but to beg you to PLEASE do all that your docs recommend, it is so important.

    Good luck you and please let us know how things go.
    Chriss
  • HRam
    HRam Member Posts: 16
    #4
    Buzzard said:

    I will take a shot at this..........
    HRam,
    Pathology is usually spot on with their results....Most often gastroenterologists (whew say that 10 x) are pretty thorough as well, but its hard to miss with pathology...I can't and won't tell you what it is, I don't know but I think if path says its benign then my bets are on benign...and that would be excellent for you......Keep us informed....buzz

    colon mass
    Thanks Buzz,

    I am being optimistic but am also preparing for the worst. They are scheduling me for a second round of biopsies week after next and the oncologist should have a definative answer then. The GI doctor who did the first procedure was very concerned. I will keep you posted.

    Thanks again,
  • HRam
    HRam Member Posts: 16
    #5
    okthen said:

    Hi HRam, I just thought I
    Hi HRam, I just thought I would tell you my husbands story.... He too had a mass that the path. came back benign. The mass was removed during a 2nd colonoscopy, different doctor. 2nd path also came back benign, but Doctor recommended he TEMs procedure...( a "scooping" out of the colon wall) to be safe.
    My husband and I just continued to hold onto that the pathology was negative, he did not have the procedure.

    Move ahead 5 months, he had a follow up colonoscopy, he was diagnosed with stage 3 colorectal cancer. He has had a resection and is currently in chemo.

    I just want to tell you this, not to scare you, but to beg you to PLEASE do all that your docs recommend, it is so important.

    Good luck you and please let us know how things go.
    Chriss

    colon mass
    Hi Chriss,

    I'm sorry to hear about your husband. I want to thank you for your response and advise. I will certainly follow my doctor's orders after what you've told me. I hope and pray that the tumor is not malignant and if it is I know I can come here for support or some advise from people who have actually experienced what I'm going through.

    thanks again,

    Hector
  • CherylHutch
    CherylHutch Member Posts: 1,375 Member
    #6
    Welcome to the board
    Hi Hector,

    I have nothing to add to what the others have said except to welcome you to the Board. I'm sorry you had reason to find us, but the good news is, IF you have to start this journey, you have found the best support group there is out there on this big old internet. So many of us didn't find the board until we were well past any surgeries and had already been in treatment for awhile. It was a very scary road to be trying to figure out what the heck was going on in our lives and why our world was turned upside down...whereas, once we found this support group and the reality is so many people are going through the same journey. Well, suffice it to say, you will get a lot of support and sense of not being alone.... and we all will have advice for days for you ... without actually telling you what to do :)

    The worst part of the journey is waiting for results to tests, scans, blood work... it seems the road to recovery is one big waiting game. You will spend more time in waiting rooms waiting for appointments/treatments/procedures if you have to go ahead with them... OR ... you will get results in a few weeks that all is ok :)

    No matter what... know that you have a spot here with all of us... your newfound cyber friends :)

    Cheryl
  • tootsie1
    tootsie1 Member Posts: 5,044 Member
    #7
    Hoping for great results
    Hey.

    Just wanted to welcome you to the board and tell you that I pray your results will eventually be definitively BENIGN!

    *hugs*
    Gail
  • HRam
    HRam Member Posts: 16
    #8
    tootsie1 said:

    Hoping for great results
    Hey.

    Just wanted to welcome you to the board and tell you that I pray your results will eventually be definitively BENIGN!

    *hugs*
    Gail

    thanks for the welcome
    Gail and Cheryl,

    I want to thank you 2 for the welcome and positive remarks. I will post the reults of my second colonscopy next week (doc is on spring break and could not schedule me this week). I hope to have good news...

    Hector
  • lisa42
    lisa42 Member Posts: 3,625 Member
    #9
    HRam said:

    thanks for the welcome
    Gail and Cheryl,

    I want to thank you 2 for the welcome and positive remarks. I will post the reults of my second colonscopy next week (doc is on spring break and could not schedule me this week). I hope to have good news...

    Hector

    Hello
    Hello and welcome, Hector-

    As the others have already said, I'm sure pulling with you and hoping that everything will again come back negative from the 2nd biopsy. Even if it is negative, the best thing would to be to get it out of there either by surgery or radiation- probably surgery would be best. I'm sure you've heard that benign polyps/tumors can most definitely grow and change into malignant tumors, so if it isn't malignant now it could become so by staying there any longer. If it ends up being benign for sure and you do end up having surgery, there are still a lot of people on this board who could give you support and advice on having the surgery and dealing with things afterwards.
    You take care & please let us know the outcome of the next biopsy.

    Best wishes (and prayers) for you-
    Lisa
  • HRam
    HRam Member Posts: 16
    #10
    lisa42 said:

    Hello
    Hello and welcome, Hector-

    As the others have already said, I'm sure pulling with you and hoping that everything will again come back negative from the 2nd biopsy. Even if it is negative, the best thing would to be to get it out of there either by surgery or radiation- probably surgery would be best. I'm sure you've heard that benign polyps/tumors can most definitely grow and change into malignant tumors, so if it isn't malignant now it could become so by staying there any longer. If it ends up being benign for sure and you do end up having surgery, there are still a lot of people on this board who could give you support and advice on having the surgery and dealing with things afterwards.
    You take care & please let us know the outcome of the next biopsy.

    Best wishes (and prayers) for you-
    Lisa

    hello
    Hi Lisa,

    Thank you for the welcome. Yes, that is what the surgeon stated that what ever it turns out to be needs to come out. If it is the big C I will have to undergo six months of chemo before it can be taken out and if not (which is what I'm hoping)he can go ahead and take it out there and then. I have the next procedure scheduled for next Monday. The hard part about this is not knowing how to break the news to my family, my wife knows, she was there when the first colonoscopy was performed but she is the only one.

    Hector
  • AncientTiger
    AncientTiger Member Posts: 130
    #11
    Even the bad can be good
    Even IF it turns out to be "the worst" news, from the sounds of it, you're still getting GOOD news, as you're getting on top of this early (at least that's my wish for you). So many who have colon cancer just do not get the forewarning needed to head it off at the pass, and it moves out of the colon to other areas, becoming stage 4, which makes for a MUCH harder battle (but even then, not unwinable).

    If you're getting it at this stage (IF it turns out to be malignant), your chances are GOOD. While there's no guarantees in life, success stories with early detected colon cancer abound. I'm one of them (so far ;)
  • AnneCan
    AnneCan Member Posts: 3,673 Member
    #12
    HRam
    I just want to welcome you to the forum, although I am sorry you need to be here.
  • HRam
    HRam Member Posts: 16
    #13
    AncientTiger said:

    Even the bad can be good
    Even IF it turns out to be "the worst" news, from the sounds of it, you're still getting GOOD news, as you're getting on top of this early (at least that's my wish for you). So many who have colon cancer just do not get the forewarning needed to head it off at the pass, and it moves out of the colon to other areas, becoming stage 4, which makes for a MUCH harder battle (but even then, not unwinable).

    If you're getting it at this stage (IF it turns out to be malignant), your chances are GOOD. While there's no guarantees in life, success stories with early detected colon cancer abound. I'm one of them (so far ;)

    thanks
    Thanks AncientTiger,

    They have scheduled the 2nd colonoscopy for Monday the 21st, hopefully I will have good news then. Well, even if it does turn out to be bad hopefully it has been discoverd at an early stage. I will post my results nedt week.

    Hector
  • HRam
    HRam Member Posts: 16
    #14
    AnneCan said:

    HRam
    I just want to welcome you to the forum, although I am sorry you need to be here.

    thanks for the welcome
    Thank you AnneCan,

    I always think that things happen for a reason; I don't know whether anyone else in my family would be strong enough to deal with what is happening to me now.

    Hector

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