Colon cancer misdiagnoses--Too little too late?
by Lisa
(New York)
I just lost my sister to colon cancer at age 64. She had a lot of abdominal pain which was repeatedly misdiagnosed and/or "dismissed" by her doctors. She was vomiting, passing out, in constant pain in her abdominal area but they couldn't find anything wrong.
While they were dismissing her, she kept insisting that she knew her own body and that she knew something was really wrong with her. One doctor finally thought it was Crohn's Disease but was wrong with that as well.
She finally ended up being correctly diagnosed with Stage 4 Colon Cancer and she began with having part of her colon removed, then it went to chemo, more tumors, more surgery, more chemo, more chemo, more chemo.
Who knows if the time lost due to misdiagnoses would have made a difference.
I am having my second colonoscopy (5 years to the week from the first one) next week because I really don't want to risk having to go through the agony that she went through when being diagnosed with Stage 4 C.C. - leaving behind children, grandchildren and a loving husband.
I send my prayers to all of you out there who are struggling with this disease. Stay strong and courageous like my sister was.
