I have decided to post-pone my sigmoidoscopy. The test results on Friday say a lot and I don't think it's wise to stick a camera into my rectum if I don't need to (kind of a no brainer, huh?). It's an invasive procedure and could very possibly cause irritation to the tumor (which apparently hasn't fled yet).Bold little thing isn't it. It's amazing that a tumor - something that receives, very likely, no love whatsoever it's entire life - will forge ahead as long as it possibly can. Like a shark without a mother. Unbelievable. Well, what are you gonna do?
Maybe I'll do a sigmoidoscopy in the future...
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What would the sigmoidoscopy show you that the PT and CAT scan didn't?
ReplyDeleterain
I don't know about Bert's situation, but in my case the ultrasound was used to get a close up look at the extent of my rectal cancer. They can check for lymph node involvement in the immediate area, but the scans help there too. In addition, the ultrasound gives an idea of how far the cancer has penetrated into the rectal wall.
ReplyDeleteIn all I had three tests, one by the surgeon using a scope, an ultrasound, and scans.
Interestingly each test characterized the cancer a little differently. Ultimately, the surgeon "went by" what he saw (in terms of how self-contained the cancer appeared to him) and the scans. The oncologists took the most conservative view and took an intersection of the scans and the ultrasound and treated the cancer by those measures.
It's amazing how we can peer into the body this way. It saves a lot of extra cutting.