Have I got rectal cancer?

[Carys]

Isn't that a bit like saying if he was checking your stomach he got foxed by a slowly digesting sprout being in the way?

[Toby2000]

Thank you everyone for your replies

Terry, you think it's possible that he missed something? I think a colonoscopy would be different because that's done with prep and an actual camera rather than just someone looking through a scope

Anyway this worry isn't even bothering me so much anymore tbh, I have an awful toothache that I've already told Terry about and it is agony. I don't have the energy to spiral

Right now is one of those times when I'm not worried so am thinking rationally and honestly at this very moment I don't think I have cancer

[Toby2000]

The toothache has calmed down a little and now I'm back to worrying about bowel cancer, just like that...

I went to toilet earlier and it was kinda hard and, TMI, long and there was a tiny bit of blood on the hard end and you could very faintly see how it slightly streaked along the length of it

I'm sure it was just a very minor bleed from a fissure or something innocent but I'm scared because again the blood looked a little richer.. maybe that's just normal though

[Toby2000]

I just had a quick but quite painful achey pain in the descending colon area of my abdomen

[BlueIris]

Toby, I don't mean this harshly, but get a life?

Your obsession is just feeding into itself.

[MyNameIsTerry]

Terry, you think it's possible that he missed something? I think a colonoscopy would be different because that's done with prep and an actual camera rather than just someone looking through a scope

What do you think I meant? Consider whether you think a highly trained & experienced medical professional is outwitted by a bit of poo? That would mean there was the potential the same person have missed many cancers over their years because they aren't very thorough. Does that sound likely?

Would he/she not move a tongue or a another fleshy piece out of the way to check behind things, wouldn't they remove a bandage/plaster if they needed to check something rather than not bother and would a stray Lego brick in place of my original sprout outwit them? Wouldn't they shift an offending object/bit of poo?

[MyNameIsTerry]

Right now is one of those times when I'm not worried so am thinking rationally and honestly at this very moment I don't think I have cancer

So, can this Toby remind the current Toby? Why would having a toothache mean your cancer no longer existed? Surely you would still know you have cancer but are focussing on the immediate pain of the toothache? Why would someone who had been diagnosed with cancer suddenly decide they didn't have it because they have a pain like a toothache? Surely they would still know they have cancer but be focussing on the immediate problem? Does that sound rational?

Which Toby sounds the more rational?

Isn't this proof of anxiety instead of cancer?

[Toby2000]

Oh okay, sorry for the misunderstanding Terry, that makes sense. I did read online that if there's stool in the way of the camera then they give you a fast acting mild laxative or enema to empty the lower colon

Also, thankfully, the toothache has gone now and only gets mildly triggered by certain things such as cold water but hopefully that subsides

[Toby2000]

I came on here panicking because there's another lymph node in the same armpit as before, the left, that's swollen..

I had one swell up like, I don't know, a month ago? And then eventually went down but now there's another one in the conjunction between my arm and armpit that's swollen, it's pretty small and looks like a pimple but I know that it's a lymph node based on the fact that it feels the same as one, is under the skin and is tender

This is just non stop... I don't understand?

Could it be linked to bowel cancer? The lymph nodes in my groin ARE NOT swollen which is a good sign and apparently armpit lymph nodes don't really swell with bowel cancer unless the cancer metastasizes to the upper body but there probably have been cases in which that has happened..

Any thoughts?

[BlueIris]

Toby, here's a thought for you.

You've seen a lot of doctors, all of whom trained for years and know their stuff.

Last night I landed up having an emergency phone consultation I really, really didn't want. I didn't want further medical attention, either. However, because there's just the shadow of a doubt that I potentially have something slightly nasty, I was told in no uncertain terms to see my GP first thing Monday.

None of the people you've seen would have missed the warning signs for something like bowel cancer, especially given how hypervigilant you are about it yourself.