Have I got rectal cancer?

[Toby2000]

Breathe, Toby. As others have said, they wouldn't be offering a telephone appointment for anything really serious, they'd want to see you in person.

Something tells me that this would be serious for an older person (at risk of colon cancer) but not serious for a younger person because it's rare for younger people, although it can obviously happen. Oh I can't believe this.

---------- Post added at 16:59 ---------- Previous post was at 16:52 ----------

...except you'd have jaundice or you'd be really really weak all the time or something.

EDIT: don't Google jaundice please

But I do have faint yellow marks on my chest that seem to be slowly spreading across my abdomen. I've had these for at least a full year, maybe two, but recently I've seen more small spots of them around my abdomen like I say.

I'm not sure if it's jaundice but it could be related (I don't need to google it to know what it is, I've been there before with jaundice-related worries!)

EDIT:

Here's a photo of the marks: https://imgur.com/a/7zeoQtT

It's safe for work and everything and you can't see my face etc

[MyNameIsTerry]

Ok, so a doctor can't see a reason. That's one good thing.

And lets remember you aren't completely sure about the name of what they were talking about therefore you are now researching all sorts of stuff that might be completely wrong anyway.

You have to retake the test in 4 weeks? So, very much a wait & see monitoring approach by the sounds of it.

There are targets for cancer testing, Toby, they are shorter than 4 weeks. That tells me this is not that urgent. They aim to start with treatment plans around that mark in those with it.

Sorry, I meant earlier that there are threads raised about the fear of receptionists calling up leaving vague messages. People like Elen will tell you, they have been common. To my knowledge they rarely seem to turn out to be what the person then spirals into for days on their thread.

---------- Post added at 17:34 ---------- Previous post was at 17:32 ----------

Not sure what others think but I've seen men & women with marks like that before and never thought anything of it. Skin imperfections?

[Carys]

You have to retake the test in 4 weeks? So, very much a wait & see monitoring approach by the sounds of it.

There are targets for cancer testing, Toby, they are shorter than 4 weeks. That tells me this is not that urgent. They aim to start with treatment plans around that mark in those with it.

I agree, if they thought cancer was a possibility you'd be in having all sorts done within days and at the latest a couple of weeks. Treatment plans (for cancer) would start within that 4 week period, which is the gap between your tests. I'm not sure about the marks, I've seen you post that picture before Toby, but I find it hard to comment on as have that type of thing over me in various places (but then I am OLLLDDDDDdd)

[Toby2000]

Ok, so a doctor can't see a reason. That's one good thing.

And lets remember you aren't completely sure about the name of what they were talking about therefore you are now researching all sorts of stuff that might be completely wrong anyway.

You have to retake the test in 4 weeks? So, very much a wait & see monitoring approach by the sounds of it.

There are targets for cancer testing, Toby, they are shorter than 4 weeks. That tells me this is not that urgent. They aim to start with treatment plans around that mark in those with it.

Sorry, I meant earlier that there are threads raised about the fear of receptionists calling up leaving vague messages. People like Elen will tell you, they have been common. To my knowledge they rarely seem to turn out to be what the person then spirals into for days on their thread.[COLOR="blue"]

I'm fairly sure that's what it's called. I made a note of what it sounded like when she said it, as she said it, and went from there. And it was written on the list of tests I was to be given, shortened to ALP I think.

111 said that they'll want me to retake it in 4 weeks because sometimes the machines can be wrong or something can go wrong in the test or something else can get into the blood or whatever. But I can't think like that. I have to assume that something's wrong because otherwise it's false hope. And they were probably just saying that so I don't get worked up.

I know but high ALP doesn't immediately mean cancer which is the thing, it won't be worrisome to them, but to me it is because I know this could mean metastasised cancer and I know high ALP is linked to colon cancer sometimes, from what I've read.

And of course even if everything else is clear, that doesn't always mean it's not cancer because most of the time blood results will be fine even with bowel cancer.

I kinda wish I hadn't had this test now because I've really found a problem and I'm terrified. I almost don't want to know what's happening.

I'll have to ask for a CT scan, if not demand one because I can't go on for at least 4 weeks without knowing what's going on.

Thanks for the consoling reply, as always. I'm starting to calm down a bit more but I'm still very on edge, and I'm just waiting for tomorrow when I have my phone appointment when the GP can tell me how abnormal my results were.

---------- Post added at 17:53 ---------- Previous post was at 17:51 ----------

I agree, if they thought cancer was a possibility you'd be in having all sorts done within days and at the latest a couple of weeks. Treatment plans (for cancer) would start within that 4 week period, which is the gap between your tests. I'm not sure about the marks, I've seen you post that picture before Toby, but I find it hard to comment on as have that type of thing over me in various places (but then I am OLLLDDDDDdd)

Thanks Carys.

I'm just FREAKING OUT right now, I knew this would happen. I would've been happy to be proven wrong when I was sure the test would come back clear but obviously not.

[Toby2000]

Right well I'm ringing tomorrow for a chat with the doctor, if she says it's only a small bit above normal then I probably won't worry but if it's drastically above normal then I will worry.

Does anyone know if this can happen sporadically or for no proper reason?

[Carys]

I wish I could help further on this Toby, but I literally only heard about this blood test today when you wrote about it. I did one bit of reading on ALP, which indicated there could be 101 reasons for elevated levels (and of course as you say yourself, you don't know how 'high' it was as it could have been borderline). Those reasons range from vitamin deficiencies, to children with bone growth still occuring to liver and digestive issues. Interestingly, only very rarely is it indicative of cancers!!!! I think everything is just guess-work before you have that conversation with the doctor, but one thing is for sure if they had any thoughts about something very seriously wrong this would not be a telephone conversation and would not be a 're test in 4 weeks' scenario. Just out of interest, it says the blood test should be done after fasting for 12 hours, was that done?

[MyNameIsTerry]

I really can't think what this could be, it's most of the time due to liver and bone problems but that could mean metastatic colon cancer that's spread to my liver or bones.

---------- Post added at 16:49 ---------- Previous post was at 16:47 ----------



Can a poor diet result in high ALP? I think if it can, that would be my saving grace here, if not.. it could be much worse

Just throwing it out there because LunarCoffee has raised a very valid point to think about. Like Carys, I wouldn't know about this test as it's one for the medics but a quick scan revealed a list of things that did include vitamin D deficiency...and we have your dietary issues.

Vitamin D deficiency is very common and easily treated.

Hyperthyroidism is mentioned. So is a form of anaemia. Yet it's obvious you have seen colon cancer can be on the list and have biased your findings. You've gone back to a still rare form of cancer for your age group, considering there are other cancers on these lists, and dismissed more frequent conditions. And please don't be looking at the other serious illnesses either because you need to remember why you have been even considering colon cancer rather than something with no connection to your symptoms. Hopefully you understand what I mean by that? That, and I haven't checked, I suspect with other types I've seen listed symptoms would also be different.

I do wonder how your diet could be impacting this. Maybe other will know, I suspect they will in terms of anaemia and hyperthyroidism, but vitamin D deficiency is a possibility there. With vitamin D deficiency there can also be thresholds where one is just about bringing you back to a more healthy range as opposed to one that has gone over a borderline. And doctors suspect many of us in our climates our low on this anyway, but low isn't always as important to a doctor as they are more concerned about stepping over those borderlines.

There are other very treatable causes, it's not just about cancer. And no doctor is going to wait 4 weeks. That will fail the NHS target for a start. They would open themselves up to a later case of mishandling.

I had a quick read on one point I spotted was that this test has been rolled out to more patients than before which has resulted in more false positives. 1 in 20. The 111 doctor seems to be suggesting this. With that in mind, this sounds more like that or maybe it's only slightly raised and they want to see if it goes down? They wouldn't be doing that if they suspected cancer.

But lets wait and see what the doctor who is seeing the results says.

[Toby2000]

Thanks to you both, I'm trying to calm down but I'm absolutely PETRIFIED and I feel like my fate is sealed FOR SURE. I mean, I've had blood on my stools, bleeding out and mucus- that tells me that it HAS TO BE colon cancer. I honestly think there's no escaping it.

If it were vitamin D deficiency, wouldn't that come up on the test as its own thing? Like it would say I have vitamin D deficiency as well as high ALP right? Not that I just have high ALP.

My call is booked for around lunchtime they said, which hopefully means within the next hour. I'm gonna say that I can't take this anymore and that I need proper tests to actually tell if there's anything seriously wrong with me.. I can already tell that my Christmas is ruined.

I wish the GP could've called and told me about it, rather than the receptionist cause she was SO CASUAL about it and she was expecting me to wait FOUR WEEKS as if high ALP is nothing to worry about when it can literally be a signal of so many serious issues.

I am PRAYING (even though I'm not religious) that this was a false positive. But of course, knowing my luck, it won't be. And I can't get my hopes up.

So I'm just gonna have to wait for the call, sitting here in pure dread

[Carys]

Ok Toby, hope she rings soon, and your questions are all answered. Waiting to hear.....

[Toby2000]

I rang this morning to change my Thursday appointment to today.. what if they forgot to change it and they're still calling tomorrow?

---------- Post added at 12:00 ---------- Previous post was at 11:52 ----------

Funnily enough, she rang just as I typed that.

It's only slightly raised apparently and she told me not to worry about it.

Everything else was fine, including inflammatory markers, which I'm concerned about because that rules out like colitis doesn't it? Meaning it's now probably either a tumour or a fissure/hemherroids causing symptoms.

I'm still a little concerned but at least it was only slightly raised- she didn't specify HOW slightly though. And she could've been lying just to make me feel better

She said it was probably caused by my age and growth, like Carys said, but I'm still a little eh.. surely an 18 year old would be fully grown?