Blood in sample

[SnowballingFight]

Mum is 81 and in a care home. She’s recently had a stool sample that has come back positive. I’ve been told by the practitioner it may be cancer. As mum has dementia I’m worried what this means? If we do nothing, what happens?

I'm sorry to hear this.

There could be any number of reasons for the positive other than cancer (around 9 out of ten positive FIT screening results AREN'T cancer. I think what happens next will very much depend on what your mother's general health is like and how well she could cope with some of the normal investigative tests (like for example a CT scan) that would give more of an idea of what the underlying cause is.

Sorry I can;t be more help - I'm recovering from bowel cancer myself so didn't watn to ignore your post but am not in the same position as your mother so my experience won't be of much help to you...