Colon cancer has been a fear of mine in the past and the fear came back in full force last night. The wife of my father in law got diagnosed with colon cancer after having no symptoms and she's 38, same age as me (second wife of father in law). She's a slim, Japanese lady, who's always eaten a healthy diet. Of course, I know nothing about her family's medical history. But now I'm spiralling.
I had a scare a couple of years when I experienced pain in my lower right abdomen. I had exams, blood tests and vaginal ultrasounds for cysts. My iron came out as low, but I hardly eat an I meat and a low-calorie diet, which the doctor figured would explain it. I never had any issues with bowel movements, but he still made me take some stool samples. They all came out clear BUT the last one contained borderline traces of blood. However, I also started my period the day that the sample was taken, so yeah. The sample might have been contaminated. Doc didn't seem worried. The idea of a colonoscopy was mentioned, but he then didn't think it was necessary, He gave me some IBS medicine and that cleared up the pain issue. I haven't had a single issue since then. There's almost zero family history of colon cancer but I think my grandmother developed it in her 90s.
And now I am in a tailspin. Despite feeling happy and healthy in general, I'm obsessing about this again. I had my blood checked last autumn and my iron was still a bit low, but not dangerously so. Have another blood check this autumn (mainly because my vitamin D was low).
How do I help myself?