MUM WAS TOLD ‘YOU’RE CLEAR’. . . THEN NEEDED SURGERY AND CHEMO
I KNOW only too well the pitfalls of bowel scope screening. My mum Kate, 57, took up the offer of the test in March 2017, having received an invitation from her GP surgery, writes Sally Wardle.
No polyps were detected – nor any other sign of cancer. The nurse said she had ‘nothing to worry about’. But beyond the reach of the scope was a hidden tumour.
And by the time it was discovered 18 months later, it was more than 2in long.
The doctors said it had been developing over the course of several years. But symptoms only presented a year after her screening – a ‘niggly’ pain in her lower left abdomen.
She gave it little thought as the bowel scope had deemed her cancer-free.
She says: ‘It never crossed my mind it could be bowel cancer. The doctor thought I had diverticulitis, which is inflammation of the bowel.’
Seven months after Mum’s bowel scope, in October 2018, she began suffering extreme fatigue, finding herself short of breath while walking. Further blood tests revealed she was severely anaemic – a known warning sign for bowel cancer.
A different, more concerned doctor sent her for a colonoscopy. And the examination revealed a large, bleeding tumour in the horizontal part of the bowel stretching across the top.
She was diagnosed with stage three cancer, with later tests showing it had spread to some of her lymph nodes.
‘I was in shock because I’d had the bowel scope,’ she says. ‘I think I was lulled into a false sense of security by getting a negative result.’
A week before Christmas, the growth was removed and in May, Mum finished a 12week chemotherapy course. Fortunately, it looks as if the cancer has gone. She’s now recovering, aware that things could have been different.
She says: ‘I would urge anyone to go for scope screening but be aware it doesn’t pick up any cancer that may be further along the colon. Get yourself to your GP if something doesn’t feel or seem right.’
When it comes to screening, a few unlucky patients will inevitably fall through the net. But if the new FIT test was available to younger people – like my mum – would it leave less room for error? I can’t help but think so.