Tricia Howell, Aylesbury
I first noticed little spots of blood in my stools around Christmas 2021 and thought I had better keep an eye on that. I checked my poo and sometimes it was there, other times it wasn’t but it was only ever specks. During February 2022, I noticed that the specks of red were getting bigger and more like little clots. My poo was also covered in a type of mucus.
I called my doctor and had a telephone appointment. I was so embarrassed talking about poo at 9:30 on a Thursday morning. My GP was great and put me at ease; he asked if I had a family history of bowel problems, which I hadn’t. He asked if I suffered from tiredness but I work shift work so am always tired. He asked if my poo had changed which, thinking about it, I realised it had gotten slightly softer and a slightly different colour. My doctor said that he was going to put me on the two-week fast track pathway. He explained that this could mean bowel cancer but was more likely to be piles or polyps. I did a FIT test and this came back positive. I had already had my full bloods done and this was all normal.
My GP then sent me for a telephone consultation with a bowel surgeon who stated they would do a colonoscopy. I had the procedure done under gas and air, and they removed four polyps and found a four-centimetre tumour. They carried out a biopsy and tattooed the area. I was told that I would have a CT scan with contrast. I knew then it was cancer, just not how bad or what the plan was. I then received the appointment to meet my consultant so off my sister and I went.
I was asked what I knew and understood. I explained that I knew I had cancer but did not know how bad or what treatment I would get. I was told that I had stage 3 bowel cancer and at least one lymph node was affected. They said that I would have a high anterior resection by keyhole to remove the sigmoid part of my colon. The operation went very well and I didn’t need to have a stoma. I gradually got out of bed and walked. If I can give any advice, it is walk as much as you can after the operation and chew gum. Get rid of that gas as quickly as possible because that hurts.
I was in hospital for six days before going home for recovery. For two weeks, between friends and family, I had around the clock care and company. Unfortunately, I got an infection in my belly button and my larger wound at the bottom of my stomach. This has caused problems as I have had to have my wound packed and dressed daily by the nurse or district nurses. My surgeon called and said that out of the 10 nodes they removed three showed signs of cancer and he would refer me to an oncologist.
I met my oncologist who stated that I would need eight cycles of Capox (this meant I would have chemotherapy for six months). I have not started the chemo yet due to my wound still not being healed but hopefully we can start soon. I want to start chemo to get it over and done with as I am scared but then half of me says I don’t want to start chemo. I will do it because it gives me the best chance of non-reoccurrence and also my medical team have been amazing with me. Now I need to finish this so I can go back to living my life and get back on a plane to somewhere hot and relaxing.
