bowel issues and colostomy

I’ve had bowel issues, but believe mine have been caused by numerous abdominal surgeries and radiation. I see gastr. Drs and have had virtual colonoscopy because a regular one couldn’t be completed because of narrowing or turn which made a complete regular one not possible. Anyway no polops found. Has she tried going to a gastro Dr for advice or opinion?

I had my cancer recurrence wrap itself around my ascending colon last year.  It was also in the rectum, the paracolic gutter, the peritoneum, and retroperitoneum, plus in a muscle near my pelvic bone.  I didn't have to have a colostomy, but I had two resections of my intestines.  One was for the cancer and the other was for the result of an incisional hernia surgery I had in 2012.  I'd had mesh put in to repair the hernia, and my intestines grew into and got tangled up in the mesh.  My GYN/onc. told me I was "a mess" inside and I had him and a general surgeon fix things up and put me back together.

The recurrence was found when I had a hemoccult test, and one of the three smears I did had microscopic blood in it.  I was sent for a colonoscopy, and that's what found the cancer growing on the outside of the ascending colon.  It actually looked like a pair of testicles stuck on the outside of the intestine in the pictures taken my the gastroenterologist's camera in his scope. My husband and I joked that I'd "grown a pair."

It's so interesting to me that a colonoscopy found cancer on the outside of the colon!  How do they do that?  I'm asking because I had some tissue removed from the outside of my small distal bowel during my daVinci hysterectomy, and it turned out not to be cancerous, but "acute and chronic inflammation."  The other tissue fragments (in the cul de sac) were malignant.

Armywife said:

Pinky

It's so interesting to me that a colonoscopy found cancer on the outside of the colon!  How do they do that?  I'm asking because I had some tissue removed from the outside of my small distal bowel during my daVinci hysterectomy, and it turned out not to be cancerous, but "acute and chronic inflammation."  The other tissue fragments (in the cul de sac) were malignant.

Sorry for the late reply to your question.  I haven't spent a lot of time on here lately and I guess I didn't go far enough down the list to see your question.  It actually all started when my PCP's office billed Medicare for a hemoccult test that I hadn't had.  As I like my doctor's office, I complained to them rather than to Medicare about it (which is what I know I should have done).  My PA was going to have the office staff give the money back to Medicare, but then we discussed it and decided I should just do the sampling for the test.  A few days later, I turned in the specimen card.  One of three smears of my stools showed blood in it when my PA checked it (most likely from passing a very painful stool), so then I was referred for a colonoscopy.  After a long wait for the colonoscopy to be scheduled, I finally got it done.  The doctor's camera in the endoscope showed the mass stuck to the outside of my ascending colon.  He took pictures of it and showed me.  The colon must have been very thin for this to have shown through it.  This led to a CT scan and a PET scan a couple of days later, and I was rushed into surgery the very next week, as my oncologist feared I would end up with a bowel obstruction.  I now know to pay close attention when I start having recurrent narrower stools!