I've been diagnosed with colon cancer. More specifically - and just to add an extra veneer of embarrassment (as though at my age I could care!) - it's colon-rectal.
Following the colonoscopy procedure which I mentioned at the end of my previous posting, the immediate prognosis from the 'chief' examiner was, in hushed sotto voce which I could hardly hear - and I'll never forget his words - "a large, cancerous growth" low down in the rectum near the 'exit'. I was initially dumbstruck and can't recall what I then said, if anything at all, though when the female nurse came to me and filled out her form, I did ask the one question I pose at the head of this post, thinking of the one person we're all aware of who does permanently wear diapers as he (literally) farts his way through silly speeches, absurd proclamations, ridiculous re-tellings of history etc. This nurse's answer to my question was "Not necessarily, but you'll have to wait for the experts' verdict". Hardly a comfort. So that said well-known person I mention and myself may well be having age plus something else in common.
Oh well, what can one do? Accept it as a fact! So what happens next?
'Next' has already happened. Yesterday I had to go back to the hospital for further scans, which involved lying on one's back, near-naked, and being slide-inserted into one of those large tubular thing-me-bobs, which I'm sure many of you have already experienced, though this particular apparatus was a newbie to me - involving keeping as still as possible for a full half-hour while a constant succession of varied, very loud sounds occurred. Headphones were put on my ears to muffle the din but it was still hellishly loud to experience. I didn't know that such a contraption would even exist in this day and age, but there you are! Have any of you been through this? I dare say some of you have.
I'd be lying if I claimed that my present situation is a total shock after having by chance seen the heading on the notification my G.P. had sent to the hospital - which I think I was not meant to see - "Urgent: Suspected cancer" - but even so, it was not a pleasant experience to hear it in person. Although the outer reaches of my mind had accepted the possibility of such an outcome, I would have been saying to myself "Nah, it's not really likely. False alarm!"
I'd had no forethought of this happening - no discomfort around that area, and certainly no pain. After that sudden, out-of-the-blue bout of diarrhoea 2 months back which took a further two to three weeks to settle, my bowel movements have returned back to 'normal' and continue to be regular.
So what happens now? After a panel of four specialists (all female, incidentally) consider the results of the scans they will recommend the next course of action. I should hear what that is to be within the next few days.g
Oh, and one other major concern - quite as troubling as it is for my own situation. If I do have to go into hospital for a few days for surgery, as seems quite likely, what happens to my dear little Sloopy? The only realistic alternative is to find a cattery which will take him for as long as needed - but he's never been in one of those places so he'd surely be suffering, thinking that he would never be back 'home'. Well, sorry Puss. Can't do anything about that.
Btw: Neither of my parents nor any of my four siblings (one deceased) had/has any history involving any cancers. So looks like I'm rather spoiling our record.
So, that's all for now. Do I now give my situation another "Heigh-ho"? Well, why not? What else can one do? Nothing! 😧
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