My Dr. visit went as expected, one specialist I no longer need to deal with.

[dbhost]

So after finding the Ulcerative Colitis presenting with considerable amounts of blood, I got shoved off to an Oncologist fast. We went through bone scans, blood work, CT scans. Well the blood work was fine, but the scans showed some abnormalities on my spine and pelvis. The location of the abnormalities would have required fairly major surgery just to get a biopsy, and risk of damage to the spinal colum was fairly high and I prefer to be able to actually walk...

So more testing happened, colonoscopy to insure no colon cancer, nope just IBD / Ulcerative Colitis (hence the blood) so no primary cancer, the bone presentation if cancerous would have been metastatic so a primary cancer would be needed for that to happen, none found, no traces in the blood work.

So treat the UC, which is going well, other than I saw what insurance is paying for the infusions and wow... but I digress. Monitor for any growth / changes, and some deeper blood work. No changes found now monitoring for just at 1 year of 3 month, and then 6 month checks.

Got the results back from all of the tests and we now have cancer ruled out 100%. The spots of abnormality are where I was injured 23 years ago in a car crash. Apparently the bones never healed right. Not going to go into the whole medical mumbo jumbo, but basically a chronic and hereditary bone disorder that effects how the body replaces bone cells, and it is not active now, nor does it look like it has been active for at least a decade.

So recommendations from Dr.? Continue with UC treatment, yeah I got that. Supplement with Calcium and D3, and monitor annually in case the bone disorder does come back into effect as it can give me some brittle bones and arthritis... Not likely to happen any time soon, but something to watch for is all, so at my annual physical just more stuff to do...

So boiled down to soup and nuts.
No cancer, and the issue found is a non issue issue. Just something to watch out for and keep noted to keep from freaking the next doctors out...

So back to working on the shop and the camper. A new post will be coming on that shortly.

[LCHIEN]

Well, that's at least one load off your mind. Good for you.

[Slik Geek]

That is great news! What a relief that must be.
My wife's cousin, about 37 years old, begged his doctor to order a colonoscopy. (Apparently he had some concerns). The doctor finally agreed, and found that he had colon cancer (that hadn't metastasized). He is responding well to treatment. His brother and sister, concerned about his early onset of colon cancer, got themselves a colonoscopy. The sister came back fine with a couple polyps. The younger brother discovered he had stage 4 colon cancer - a poor prognosis. He had no symptoms.
Cancer is scary - glad for your good outcome.

[dbhost]

I lost my brother in law Eddy in 2018 to Colon cancer, So when things went bad with me I made a beeline for the Dr. office. We lost Eddy because he was afraid to deal with treatment. I decided to take the opposite approach.

[leehljp]

Great news Dave. Good to hear that. Continuing to pray for you.

[cwsmith]

Dave,

Very happy to hear you survived all that and you don't have the cancer that you suspected. May God bless!

About seven years ago my wife made arrangements for both of us to have the Cologard Test, you know the one you do at home. While she had no signs, it was found that I had a trace of blood in my sample. Indeed the follow-up MRI found a mass in my colon and I had a colon re-section, where they removed about a four-inch section, and then staple it back together to close the section. I spent 13 days in hospital waiting for digestive track to return to normal. First time I was ever hospitalized for anything and I couldn't wait to get home.

Just another adventure, I really didn't suffer anything and consider myself quite lucky!

I've had headaches most of my life, sometimes taking asperin several times a day. My physician told me the aspirin probably saved my life as it caused stomach bleeding. If the bleeding hadn't caused detection in the Cologard test, there would have been no need for the colonoscopy and the cancer wouldn't have been detected until probably too late.

Since then they have me get annual MRI and/CT scans as a follow-up and two years ago they discovered a 4.2 cm growth on my left kidney.That was traumatic as the staff seemed to think they were taking my kidney, argumentatively so. The surgeon insisted he did not think the cancer had penetrated the organ and he was safely able to remove it through a robotic procedure. I went home the next morning! But, I was so sore for several days that it felt like eveybody in the operating room beat the crap out of me. Apparently, they had to expand my rib cage and inflate my body to allow for the procedure. So, I turn 80 this July, I've been pretty lucky!

Keep going to those follow up exams and I wish you great health,

CWS