My dad has just had a colonoscopy and it looks like he has bowel cancer

[pinkchampagne1]

He has had symptoms for a while (mucus and rectal bleeding) but has put off getting checked out until recently. His FIT test was very high so he was fact tracked for a colonoscopy which he had today. Just phoned my mum and it looks like they have found a large growth which looks to be cancer. My dad is 83 and I adore him so I am so upset. 😢

My dad was diagnosed with bowel cancer at 88. The surgeon said chemo or radiotherapy was out of the question and it had to be surgery. We were told the risks due to dad's age but he sailed through the operation and made an excellent recovery, he only died at 94 over two years ago from completely unrelated health issues.

My dh has been given a F2F follow up appointment with the colorectal surgery team on Thursday. I might not be able to attend with him, as I will be at work, but I'm going to try to change the time.

That's all I know for now 😐

Good luck for Thursday. Hope you manage to change the time so that you can be with him. X

My dad is still sat on a chair in A&E. They did an X Ray of his neck and his neck looked ok but they saw something on his chest so want to do a CT in case it is a clot on his lung. As you can imagine, my head has gone into panic mode that the cancer has spread to his lungs. 🙁
He has a cannula fitted but hasn’t gone down for his scan yet. I feel like my poor dad is going to be stuck there all night again. 😢

They said they can't change the time without putting it back a week, as they've already squeezed him in as it is! So it sounds pretty urgent 😕

I am going to see if I can swap things round at work, but they did say that he doesn't need to have anyone with him and it's just a consultation that should take around 20 minutes. So now I'm not sure what to think 🤔

That sounds horrible all round. So sorry to hear what your poor dad is going through. It's hard, but we have to try and stay strong for them. Sending virtual hugs to you 🤗

It will probably be talking him through the procedure for surgery, explaining what they'll do and getting him to sign the consent form for permission to go ahead with scheduling it. It's good that they're treating it as urgent - things generally move pretty quickly once they've decided what needs to be done at the MDT meeting.

@Meredusoleil I hope you've followed the advice from previous posters here and are also following up on your own heath concerns ? We haven't forgotten - please don't postpone it any longer if you haven't done anything up to now.

Will they finally tell him if the tumour is benign, pre-cancerous or cancerous and if cancerous, which stage it's at?

Also, how soon should we be expecting the surgery to take place?

We have a holiday booked for April and I'm worried we will have to cancel it 😬

Oh and yes, I spoke to my GP yesterday about my ongoing issues (diverticulosis picked up on CT scan in 2022, but none on recent CT scan from 2024 - I am now suspecting colitis is the real cause).

She has said if it was something like my dh's tumour it would likely have been picked up on the CT scans, so at least it's not that hopefully.

But she has also said I should repeat the FIT and calprotectin tests when I next have a flare up including 2 blood tests which would show up any bowel inflammation. Then I can book in for a colonscopy if the results are bad.

Also, I have been keeping a food diary and started taking probiotics recently and I've already noticed an improvement in my overall gut and gastro issues 🙃

So I'm feeling a bit less worried about my own health and am going to continue to focus on dh for now.

Yes they should tell him if the tumour is cancerous or benign. They actually phoned my dad and confirmed his tumour was cancerous before the appointment. He was also told that they found the mark on his liver so needed another MRI to investigate that. They confirmed that was cancerous at his appointment.
They should give you a plan of when to expect surgery and if any other treatment will be necessary.

Yes I should think so (in my case they told me immediately after my colonoscopy that they were 99% sure just from the look that it was cancerous).

If it is cancerous they'll be able to make a good guess at the stage but won't be 100% definite until after the surgery - it will depend on how far into the bowel wall the tumour has got. I can only quote my personal experience, but I had my surgery about 6 weeks after the initial MDT meeting (delayed for a couple fo weeks because they needed to follow up on some of my pre-op assessment findings).

I imagine if it is benign they might not see it as being as urgent to operate.

I was in hospital for about 6 days after surgery and then took about six weeks to fully recover.

Well done for following up on your own issues.

@Meredusoleil you have described my own journey - I had surgery for a 3cm tumour last Friday.
They move very fast when cancer is suspected, and this is the very worst bit of the process as you are waiting to hear news. I was told at my colonoscopy that it was cancer (confirmed from biopsies later) and I've had a hemicolectomy. I won't know the stage until they checked the tumour and associated lymph nodes, so in a week or so.
In all it was just over a month from colonoscopy to surgery. Probably the longest month of my life, but in the scheme of things very quick really.
I hope it's good news for your DH.

I don't understand when you are all saying that the stage won't be confirmed until after surgery. My dh was under the impression he had to have the CT and MRI scans to check whether the cancer had spread outside the bowel, so surely with the results of those they can say what stage it is at?!?

They told him during the colonscopy that the tumour was located 15-20cm inside the bowel. It is 2.5cm in size and is at the rectosigmoid junction, which from what I have read, means it can be treated as either colon OR rectal cancer - so which one is it?

He hasn't had the results of the biopsy or either of the two scans yet. Will these be given to him on Thursday, or are we to just assume the worst that it is full on cancer rather than pre-cancerous?

I'm no expert, but as I understand it stages have something to do with lymph node involvement and not just whether it has spread. Based on my own experience they won't know if it's in his lymph nodes unless they test the cells (they could see on the scan that mine were inflamed, but they're testing them now they've been removed).
Was he given a number for the colorectal team? These questions would be best directed to a member of that team who, again in my experience, are absolutely fabulous.

I got the results of my scans at my f2f meeting.

It's such a stressful time for you all. 💐

Yes they gave him a phone number after the colonscopy to contact the colorectal nurses if we had any questions. But we've been waiting to speak to an actual doctor first.

Ring them in the morning. They are super helpful and you will feel better after the call.

Do biopsy and scan results not show up on the NHS app?

My dad has had his scan now. My BIL went to the hospital (he works close by) and pushed for him to get the scan. They had apparently forgotten him! 😬
They have taken more bloods and done another ECG. He is now waiting for a meeting with the doctor which is sending my stress levels through the roof. 😣

@Meredusoleil the results have to be approved before showing on the app. I also recommend phoning the colorectal nurses with questions about your DH appointment. It is normally recommended to have someone go with you to an appointment- sometimes for support for the outcome but also just to have a another pair of ears to listen to the information.

You can also contact the MacMillan helpline for support as they can advise about the process to diagnose or rule out cancer.

Glad you’ve looked into your health issues too and there are some improvements.

@pinkchampagne1- it is stressful but good those tests are being done. Take care - make sure you’re eating & drinking.

The CT and MRI scans will have shown if there were any signs of cancer in other parts of the body, but to give an accurate stage and grade they need to examine the tumour and associated lymph nodes after surgery to see how far the tumour has got into the bowel wall. .

See here
Staging and grading of bowel cancer | Macmillan Cancer Support

Detailed analysis of the tumour will also help determine if any follow up treatment would be beneficial .

I second the post above about ringing the colorectal nurse contacts in the morning - they may not be able to give you all the information you are looking for but should be able to answer some of your questions.

I'd also recommend both that MacMillan website above and the Bowel Cancer UK one here Bowel Cancer | Bowel Cancer UK for more information - the online communities let you get in ouch with others who have been or are going through a similar experience to yourself.

How can they see if the cancer has spread AFTER they have removed the tumour by looking at it when it is no longer inside the body? Do you mean they wait to see if there is any thing left behind after removing the actual tumour?