How my Onc & Breast Cancer Just Saved My Life

gsg

How my Onc & Breast Cancer Just Saved My Life

gsg

I'm so sick of going to docs and getting this test and that test that pretty much anything not related to my breast cancer, I've put off.  Since I'm 52 years old and had never had a colonoscopy, my onc insisted at my last appt that I go get one....so I did a couple weeks ago.   They did remove an extremely large polyp...the doc described it as, as large as his thumb...but at the time of removal, he thought it looked okay.

Tuesday, I was called into his office.  Path report back.  Turns out it was beginning to turn into cancer.  Everything is fine.  He had removed it all.   I have to get checked again in 6 months.  The doc said the chemo I had MAY have retarded the growth enough so that it was not yet cancer...hard to say.  He made it clear that in a short period of time it would have been full-blown colon cancer. 

Oddly, I guess in a way my breast cancer saved me from having colon cancer...I tend to listen to my onc more than my GP.   I know myself...and I would not have been getting a colonoscopy anytime soon..I tend to put tests off.  Not anymore.

So to anyone reading this...why not schedule one for yourself today.  My insurance did not require a referral, and yours may not either.

 I'm also looking into a new kind of cancer-fighting diet.  For some reason, my body seems to be a not so lean, but very mean, cancer-producing machine.

Please get yourselves scheduled today!  Dealing with ONE kind of cancer is more than enough for all of us. 

Take care-

Patrice 

Anonymous

Good call, thankgoodness they found that! I still have a script for that hanging on the fridge...been putting off. Did you have symptoms from the polyp? My doc gave the choice of colonoscopy or just bringing in sample.

gsg

I had NO symptoms of anything.  A sample wouldn't have helped...it has to be a colonoscopy.  Get in there!  It's not so bad.  They put you out for it.  The worst part is the cleansing part the day before....but it's doable.  And it does leave you feeling pretty "light."  LOL.

snowyday

Hi Craisy, what do you mean bring in a sample, no colonoscopy, I need to know more about this.  When I finally see my gastro (pathetic) I'm going to bring in a load so he can see whats happening, gross, but I'm sick of this and have to do something maybe it will help but how.

LizM

Wow, gsg, great story.  I am so glad you had the colonoscopy.  I had one two years before my diagnosis due to symptoms and everything turned out fine.  But I am always glad I had it as it is one less thing to worry about.  I have also been diligent about my gyn tests because I don't want to deal with any other cancer issues.  It's bad enough having to worry about breast cancer recurrence.  Last summer I had a complete check of my body for skin cancer.  Listen to Patrice, if there is anyone 50 or over reading this that has not had a colonoscopsy, get it done now.   

NoH8

Great story, gsg. A lot of people in my family died of colon cancer. I had a polyp at my last one so I have to go back and get another one this year, which I'm more than happy to do. I prefer to take the pills for the colon prep-- that nasty stuff that you drink is baaaad stuff.

AnnNYC

Patrice, so glad you're okay -- they nicked it in the nick of time, I guess.  I've had my first colonoscopy -- agree, the prep is the unpleasant part, the exam itself is literally a snooze! -- and am scheduled for another in a year.

Take care, everybody!

gsg

LOL@Snowyday bringing in a load.  I'm getting this mental image....

Amy:  The doc had told me I could either take the pills or drink the stuff...but he preferred his patients to drink the stuff, so I said, okay, give me a prescription for that.  It was pretty disgusting.  I vomitted once.  When I was making the appt for the September procedure, I thought about asking for the pills..but didn't...since the doc, for some reason, prefers us drinking the liquid.   

Liz:  I'm going to start being more compliant with what my docs advise.  This may sound incredibly naive or just plain stupid, but I've been so focused on breast cancer, I never even thought about dealing with another type.   It's kind of like...my cancer is breast cancer, period.  ridiculous.

Thanks, Ann.

okay, everybody...now get your butts...and i do mean butts....in there. 

TenderIsOurMight

Patrice,



What a wonderful tribute to your courage and your oncologist. Internal tests, such as colonoscopies seem to deter many of us. With modern drugs and monitoring, and a great gastroenterologists, they are much more doable than years past.



Now too with the new knowledge that flat lesions may be on the rise, you can bet our gastroenterologists are being updated through CME on how they image through a 'scope. Soon too there may be dyes that may be added to help in their visualization. The polyp and non flat lesion I think are still more common than flat lesions.



Breast cancer seems to raise our risk of colon cancer some. Perhaps someone knows the number.



Thank you for posting your words of encouragement for us all to be checked. And congratulations to you and your doctor.



Tender

roseg

Thank goodness.

I used to think a mastectomy would be the worst thing that could happen to a woman, but then I had one and lived to tell about it.

Now I think that having someone  cutting parts of your colon or intestines out sounds much worse.  So good news that you dodged that bullet!

gsg

Glad they got yours, Layne!

I forgot to mention another benefit.  You will receive several color pictures of the interior of your small and large intestines, suitable for framing.  

Thanks, Rose.  I don't even like to think about the end results of colon cancer...colostomy bags, etc. 

gsg

Hi, Tender:  I'm going to send a card to my onc thanking him for saving my life once again.

I was not aware that breast cancer increases the risk of colon cancer.  Interesting! 

Anonymous

Snowyday......when my doc said it was time for one of these, he said do you want to go the invasive or non-invasive route. I of course chose the latter, so he gave me the script for the lab....you take it to lab and they give you "poop sticks" to pick up samples you bag and take in for testing. Don't know if it's as effective as the scope to pick up changes in the colon.....but that's the choice he gave me.

Anonymous

GSG.....LOL.....and where is a good place to hang that??? Funny

gsg

Crazydaisy: 

For starters: 

1.  Your office.

2.  Hubby's desk at work 

3.  Hang from rear-view mirror

4.  Put a red & green border on them & create interesting christmas or seasons greetings cards

5.  Heavily laminate and turn them into refrigerator magnets or keychains   

gsg

Layne:  Sorry you didn't get any pics.  I'll send you a polyp refrigerator magnet.  Nobody will know it's not yours.  It can be our little secret. LOL.

NoH8

See that's the thing-- my first colonoscopy I gagged all through the drink and cheated at the end because I couldn't keep it down-- that's why I did the pills for the 2nd one and will for the 3rd. I wonder why your dr prefers the drink...  I always say the prep is way worse than the procedure.

Anonymous

Okay....LOL I knew that laminator would come in useful someday.....hey, or maybe you can use as a new avatar??? Ok....nuff already I nearly bust a stitch laughing!

TerryNY

gsg, So glad your onc is on the ball and so glad you followed his advice.

You're right, my dh had his two years ago and the prep is most definitely the worst part of the procedure.  

I get mine next year, oh boy! 

I'll show you mine if you show me your's.  LOL

ADK

Patrice,

Congratulations!!  I am so glad you were able to dodge that bullet.  When I had my last colonoscopy, there was a poster on the wall listing risk factors for colon cancer and BC was one of them.  There are a few other risk factors such as having invasive bowel disease (me), smoking and drinking alcohol (aren't these two items included in every risk factor list????)

I am jealous of your pictures - I never get them because they can't do a full colonoscopy on me due to a stricture.  DH got his pictures and he wanted to use them for that year's Christmas card, so I guess you are on the same wavelength as him!!!

gsg

Anne:  Sorry to hear about your bowel disease.  Hope it's not too painful or life-restricting for you.  Is invasive bowel disease similar to irritable bowel syndrome?

I'm thinking about using my colon pics to create a jewelry line that will be sold on QVC.  I doubt it's been done before.  Somebody get me a patent lawyer stat!

LOL@Terry...talk about a whole new spin on one of my favorite childhood games.

ravdeb

wow gsg...I'm glad they got that out and you are okay.

ADK

Patrice,

I am ROTFLMAO at the idea of jewelry!!! 

To your question - invasive bowel disease is colitis or crohn's disease (mine).  Irritable bowel disorder is a transient disorder.  However, to the person that suffers from it, that don't make a whole lot of difference.  With the invasive diseases, permanent damage is occurring because the body is attacking itself.  Episodes of irritable bowel disorder don't cause damage, just a great deal of discomfort.  

Harley44

Oh, Patrice,

Glad that you got the colonoscopy, and they took it out!  Sounds like it is ok... you won't need any more treatment, I hope?

My dr. is scheduling me for a colonoscopy, because... having bc puts us at higher risk for colon cancer...so it is kind of related to bc.  So, I'll be going for my colonoscopy at the ripe old age of 45...My birthday is April 21st....

Best wishes,

Harley

Anonymous

Patrice-

I have been putting off the colonoscopy.  First because my GYN brought it up the year I turned 50, but I wasn't 50 yet so didn't want to do it.  Then I got breast cancer and didn't want to deal with any more procedures.  Actually, my GYN wanted me to have a flexible sigmoidoscopy, but I understand they aren't as good because they don't look at as much of the colon.  The prep is the same for both, I think.  If I have to go thru the prep, I want the better exam.

If having breast cancer gives me a greater chance of colon cancer, then I had better not put it off any longer. 

Thank you for telling us and I'm so glad they caught it for you!

otter

Oh, man, I did not need to find this thread!

When I last saw my GP for a regular check-up (pre-BC dx), he set up two referrals for me.  One was to get my breast lump checked out at a big-time breast clinic.  You know, the lump my GYN had been telling me was just fibrocystic tissue, but it turned out to be IDC (see sig line).

The other referral my GP offered was for my very first colonoscopy.  He said I should just give his office a call when it was convenient for me to have the procedure done, and his nurse would set it up with the gastroenterologist.

Well, that offer was made was 5 months ago.  Let's just say it hasn't been convenient lately, what with the driving 2 hours each way to the breast clinic/cancer center, the imaging, the biopsy, the conferences with all the doctors, the breast MRI, the mastectomy/SNB, the post-op rechecks, the consults about chemo (and still no Oncotype score yet), and now a referral for physical therapy to start in 2 wks.

I guess I'm just waiting for a 3-day break when I can afford to be out of commission and on the toilet for awhile.  I have to admit, I've always been intimidated by the thought of a colonoscopy; but after all this BC stuff, the colonoscopy isn't quite as scary as it used to be.

Good thread, gang (even though I didn't want to see it)!

otter 

Bugs

Patrice, wheww!!  So glad you listened to your dr!  I see your humor is still firmly intact, lol.

Hmm, what is the age we need to get this done?  50?  So, does that mean since we had BC that we should get it done sooner?  It's not in my family, but hmmmm I'm 44..I wonder when I should get THIS fun test done.

Bugs

susan_CNY

I am happy to hear you all are having your colonoscopies! Its much better to have a polyp removed than a tumor believe me. The 10 year rule is the same for colon as breast, 10 years before your relative was dx. I had stage 2 colon and stage 1 breast a year later,  is better safe than sorry, I would not be here today if I hadn't gone for those tests.

NarberthMom

How timely ... I've got my first colonoscopy scheduled for Monday! I'm lucky in that my doc prefers the pills. My dh says that the liquid stuff is pretty bad. Any other advice for dealing with the preparation? I'm looking forward to losing the calories from not eating for a day - LOL! I was thinking of getting some nice wipes for my bum ... any suggestions?

AnneW

Patrice,

That's good news and great advice. I think we, as peers here, have the power to make an impact on others, and you have done that masterfully!

I've had one colonoscopy 5 years ago, and will be getting another this summer. My mom had bresat cancer (Stage 3b, back in the days of only radical surgery and cobalt radiation.) She survived that 20 years, only to be diagnosed with colon cancer at Stage 4.

So, with her history and my own, I'm on the every 5 year plan for the scope. I'm fine with that, and would even gladly go to 3 year intervals, if needed.

I'm not a big fan of giving stool samples for occult blood as a diagnostic tool. And sigmoidoscopies only examine a small part of the colon. So, I'll go with the nasty prep and do the scope. It's only two days out of my life.

Anne