Hi folks
I'm a 47 year old guy in the ACT, recently diagnosed with Bowel Cancer. As someone who was always observing this happening to others, I've been getting regular check ups for early detection since I was 40. Nothing ever came up. As it turned out, none of the things I was doing would detect bowel cancer, so it's slipped through my net of ignorance .
My symptoms... lower abdominal pain, diarrhea, occasional blood in stool. Abdominal pain comes and goes, as does diarrhea. Bleeding, well the GPs had written it off as stomach flu and nothing to worry about. In hindsight, I should have worried.
A colonoscopy found it. Less than two weeks later, a lower bowel resection and an ileostomy. I'm in hospital now writing this and hoping I've dodged a bullet. I now have to live with an ostomy bag but not sure how long for. Hopefully only 12 weeks, but I am nervously waiting on the pathology results to determine if chemo is my next step.
So anyway, hust a brief intro. I have many positive factors and overall I am positive in my mind. Emotionally, I've been riding a rollercoaster that has knocked my family around significantly. It's knocked me around. I am still in the early stages of my journey, i am sure there are still many knocks to come.
