Two- week bowel cancer pathway - what to expect?

[OnlyInsomniaInTheBuilding]

Apologies if this is the wrong topic; I wasn't sure where it would best fit.
My dad (late 60s) has suddenly been having loose stool for about 4 weeks. He went to the GP who detected blood in his stool sample, then did some other tests to exclude infection as the cause. He's now on the 2-week pathway to exclude / diagnose bowel cancer.
He has a phone appointment at the JR in Oxford next week, after which they will schedule an urgent colonoscopy.
I wondered if anyone else has been through the same and could help us know what to expect? What's the phone consultation for? Are there any particularly important questions we should ask at this stage?
He lives with my mum (mid-70s) and talks care of all their admin - bills, banking, pensions etc. It feels too early to start talking about these things now, without a diagnosis, but how do you know when it's the right time to broach it?
I'd also welcome stories from people who have been through this process and it's turned out NOT to be cancer (to stop me spiralling), as well as from those for whom it was cancer (to keep me realistic), if you are happy to share.
Sorry this is a bit of a jumble - thanks in advance to anyone who can help me organise my thoughts / offer a handhold! He had an (unrelated) health scare earlier this year and I'm hating all these reminders of his mortality. He's the best dad 🥺
(Edited for clarity)

Hopeful bump!

Hi OP, I went through this with my dad (late 70s) a few months ago and I know how stressful it can be. In my dad’s case he has regular bloods taken because of his other medication and he was repeatedly coming back as anaemic. He wasn’t losing weight but was alternating between being constipated and having loose stools. His FIT test came back positive. His GP suggested an internal bleed of some kind which could be cancer related so he was put on the 2 week pathway.

He was invited first of all to a consultation with a specialist nurse and he went through my dad’s medical history including his bowel habits, any weight loss, change in appetite etc. Due to his other mobility problems, dad didn’t feel he would manage colonoscopy prep very well (as you might know, they give you vile stuff to drink that results being on the loo all night) so he went for a specialist scan instead. They also later sent him for an endoscopy to check his GI tract for possible bleeding too.

In the end, both tests came back clear and from my reading around it, there are many far less serious illnesses which can cause these issues - polyps, IBS etc. I’m not a medic but being on the cancer pathway doesn’t mean you have to assume the worst case scenario. At this point they’re just ruling out the bad stuff first.

I managed my own feelings around it by telling myself ‘they’re just ruling it out’. Obviously not everyone gets the results they want but after a day of imagining all kinds of bad outcomes, I was able to manage my spiralling thinking.

Hi @OnlyInsomniaInTheBuilding my dad’s just been through the same thing. He did turn out to have cancer unfortunately but there are many other things it could be such as IBS or polyps.

From our experience the phone call will be to go through what the colonoscopy will entail and to arrange delivery/ collection of the preparatory medication to clear the bowel the day before.

My dad’s tumour was visible during the colonoscopy so we knew something wasn’t right straight away.

This part is undeniably anxiety producing but my advice is take it one step at a time and be as positive as you can for your dad. Sending you a hand hold and positive thoughts.

DH was diagnosed with bowel cancer just over a year ago, we’re also in Oxfordshire. Don’t particularly remember him having a call first, I know he was sent for a colonoscopy pretty quickly after the tests GP ran came back. The dr at the colonoscopy spotted a mass which he thought was likely a tumor but needed a couple more scans which happened in less than a week, I think. Everything else happened pretty quickly after that, the longest wait was to get a slot for chemo, that took 3-4 weeks. It was actually quite useful as DH needed dental work doing and he managed to fit it in. The cancer department is based at the Churchill but there’s also a small team at the Horton and we’ve been all over the place for scans. Overall, it’s worked pretty smoothly with the odd admin hiccup and all the staff have been lovely. Obviously, you don’t have a diagnosis yet but if it is bowel cancer, it’s one of the ‘better’ ones, it’s pretty common so lots of data and research and treatment options.

I don’t think it’s ever too early to get admin sorted, DH is only 52 but we’ve sorted out POA for him already and some other bits and pieces.

best of luck to your dad and family.

I've been through it, there are other reasons for the symptoms as previously said. The worst bit was the prep for the colonoscopy, much worse than the actual procedure. They did see the cancer during the colonoscopy so I knew straight away then. I was then sent for a CT scan and then to see the surgeon who was going to do a colon resection. That was done within two weeks, all the tumour was removed but I ended up with a temporary stoma, it was supposed to be for 2 weeks but covid hit and I had it for 2 years. It was then reversed and I function normally now. I did have regular CT scans and colonoscopies afterwards but it's now been 6 years and I'm free of it. Happy to answer any questions.

Thank you all so much for sharing your experiences! There were several nuggets in there that I hadnt known - the prep involved for a colonoscopy, that a stoma can be as short term as just a few weeks, the fact that bowel cancer is considered one of the 'better' ones, and some of the differential diagnoses such as IBS, polyps etc.
Reassuring to know that the diagnosis and treatment seems to happen quite quickly - DS has been waiting for a non-urgent appointment for something unrelated for over a year so I was dreading a similarly protracted period of waiting for appointments/diagnosis.
Popped in at my parents' this afternoon and they both seemed in good spirits so that was nice to see and helped me to stay positive too.
Thanks again for sharing.