Over 60's Bowel Cancer Testing Kit

[Meg]

Have recently had the pleasure of doing the above and have failed 2 tests.

I'm now booked in to have a colonoscopy a week Monday. Has anyone else been through this?

BTW I feel fine apart from the obvious worry about this. Thanks.

[plautus]

We get one here every two years. So far I have been OK, though it is a rather fiddly and undignified process.

[Psybbo]

Sis in Law and is now recovering from op

[Meg]

Thanks plautus, we get it every 2 years as well.

sibton, I do not find your answer very encouraging. It's an investigation, not an "op"

[askyourgran]

My bro and sister have both had bowel cancer - detected early thanks to the testing kits, both now recovered. Have the colonoscopy the sooner the better, just some discomfort but don't worry.

[Psybbo]

I'm sorry meg, I didn't mean to upset you

[Meg]

Thanks methyl, I had an hour long consultation with a nurse who was excellent. Think I know what to expect with the procedure, not pleasant but must be done.

I was hoping to hear from somebody who had experienced this and found it to be something minor.

[askyourgran]

My husband had a colonoscopy he was found to have diverticulitis.

[Meg]

Thanks again methyl, I assume you have been through this.

Not over worried about the ivestigation (expect it to be similar to doing jury duty). Just worried about what the results are.

[jno]

have a look through this site

http://www.cancerscre...owel/result-mean.html

[owdhamer]

I t's not nice but the alternative is unmitigated hell , christies are doing their best to get me another christmas

[parkie]

Hi miss meg. I had the bowel test on two occasions with a couple of years in between with no problems. Then, like you, I failed twice this year and had a colonoscopy. The first one I had, the purgative didn't do it's job properly and the camera wasn't able to see anything so I had to go back the following week and have it done again which proved to be perfect.
Nothing was found but what my GP told me afterwards was, as I am taking soluble aspirin every day for a heart condition which causes bleeding in the stomach, even though I am taking other medication to counteract it, some bleeding can still occur and it shows up in the tests.
So what she has recommended in future is that I stop taking the aspirin a few days before carrying out the test.
I don't know if this might help.
Good luck.

[parkie]

Good luck to you also owdhamer.
What more can one say?

[SeaJayPea]

I've done a couple of these, with an operation in between.

The first thing to say is that all that has been found so far is some blood in your stool sample. The vast majority of failures are caused by something comparatively minor - piles etc. Even eating really rare meat the night before has been shown to give false positives. And, as parkdale has said, some drugs can set it off.

The thing is, that if there is a problem, the earlier it is found, the less chance there is that it will have developed into something more serious. That's why the whole screening process has come in.

The worst thing about the whole procedure, frankly, is the 'clearing out' process you have to do the day before. When they say 'don't go too far from the loo', they mean it. Believe me!

When you go for your colonoscopy, the staff know how undignified the whole thing is and will try to put you at ease. I was even given a pair of pants with a hole in the back, if you please! You'll be given some relaxation drugs and they'll talk you through all they're doing. It is undignified, but not at all painful.

You won't be allowed to go home for quite a while afterwards because of the drugs, so take a book. And you'll probably have to have somebody to take you, for the same reason.

As I say, the chances that they'll find something are very small. However, if they do, it's far, far better to find it early and treat it then, rather than wait. In my case, what they found was taken out just a couple of weeks later - no radiotherapy, no chemo, because they caught it in the very early stages.

Doing these screenings is saving no end of lives by finding things earlier. But there's only a 50% take-up in some areas. Daft. Take my word for it, you're doing exactly the right thing.

The best of luck to you.

[boxtops]

good luck miss meg - great that even small symptoms are investigated early, good luck with it.

owdhamer ♥

[Meg]

Thanks for the replies, parkdale and SeaJaypea you have both been very informative. I'm on no medication whatsoever and hopefully the blood is from nothing more sinister than piles or bleeding gums. Will be glad to get this over with.

Owdhamer, my thoughts are with you. Christie's were excellent with my friend when she was diagnosed with bowel cancer.

[Scarlett]

I am not over 60 but I have had many colonoscopies as I have had ulcerative colitis for the past 10 years, and am due another one soon. They are far less intrusive than a smear in my opinion. You lie on your side with your knees bent, covered in a sheet and blanket. Nothing to see, and not a lot to feel. The TV screen is what the doc will be looking at, and you can too if you like- I do, I find it amazing!! I would recommend having sedation if you can, as it just makes the whole thing a bit more relaxed and easy. Mostly you can't feel anything. And then it's over. Good luck!

[fredkins]

Hi there scarlett I also have ulcerative colitis.