The inevitable thing with surgery is that the good luck of a smooth procedure with no complications is by no means a certainty.
I have just had my 4th Colonoscopy in a year.
The first was to hopefully get me access onto a clinical trial for Melanoma. I wasn’t eligible for the clinical trial because lesions were discovered in my colon & the drug (Vemurafenib) has a side effect that causes these sort of lesions so the risk was too great.
I was diagnosed with Serrated Polyposis Syndrome (link). The link between Melanoma & SPS is a potential and is being research in detail – there are links between Melanoma & many types of secondary diseases. I say links & what I mean to say is that for some reason you get 1 and somehow this triggers others.
Whether these internal switches are clicked at the same time or whether the body’s immune system cannot combat all issues simultaneously, and therefore in fighting 1 problem inadvertently allows others to flourish, is yet to be clarified…. The interesting word here is “immune”. Ponder this thought if you will…..would a healthier immune system so readily allow cancer to take hold and if not surely we would all want to do everything we possibly could to improve our immune system?
I will leave that for you to muse and elaborate another time….I get too easily side-tracked & the point here is that with surgeries sometimes…occasionally….there are complications.
They are rare…..
Melanoma is rare…I got it…and not just got it but got a freaking monster of one, with a Breslow of 4.7 which means I am blessed *insert swear words* with a real rare treat!
Serrated Polyposis syndrome is rare….I got it.
After my second Colonoscopy I suffered with the…you guessed it…rare side effect known as Post Polypectomy Shock Syndrome. (now I am more potentially at risk from this post op side effect having experienced it once)
So rare & I seem to be going hand in hand….we like each other….or should I say rare likes me & I can’t seem to get rid of the pesky irritant!
My worry with all procedures has been the “it’s really unlikely this will happen…it is a 1 in 100, 1 in 10,000 chance” conversation that happens beforehand…. The very complex nature of removing these serrated lesions means the risk of the colon tearing, rupturing, either during or after the surgery is increased…yet my surgeon is the amazing Dr James East…an expert in his field…..has a reputation for spotting problems immediately…preventing disaster.
So far he has removed over 10 polyps and serrated lesions from inside my Colon without incidence….
But the thing about repetition…is how many times can you get away with no side effect….no incidence?…how many times can you scratch the mark on your skin before you draw blood…..how thin has the Colon wall got?…..how much of that lesion can you shave off before the lining becomes too thin?
And so we come back to rare….a rare occurrence during a Colonoscopy is a tear…or potential rupture…perhaps after removal of a growth bleeding starts and the wall is weak…if this isn’t spotted or remains untreated the risks of severe bleeding or worse a potentially life threatening rupture of the colon could occur.
Rare…..dangerous….and yet it happened…but like I frequently mention I am looked after by some really fantastic people…Dr East spotted the tear before the lining of the colon broke completely….he fixed it……giving it a chance to heal.
This time 2 lesions were removed…one measuring 1.5cm and the other 2cm…so in terms of the stuff I have been growing these were small…in normal peoples terms these were sizeable!….Perhaps it was that they were removed from a different part of my colon than previous lesions (not being a gastroenterologist I can’t be certain)…but anyway…intervention was needed at both locations.
Intervention in the form of Endoclips…..little metal clips with 3 prongs…they are about .6mm wide at the base and about 2cm long……they clip 2 sides together like a bulldog clip. There are 2 above one potential tear and 8 holding together the other tear….8 in a row biting their teeth into my colon preventing the wall from ripping open.
They will eventually come out organically (we shall discuss this no further)…..and any and all continued mention of Bum jokes will be passed on to Santa.
I am fragile….fearful of great movement for a while giving the colon wall a chance to heal….and I am thankful….that I have the very best looking after me.
I have to take it easy…I can’t go running for a few weeks…which does make me growl just a little bit…..but I have to wonder…out of curiosity…when I do go running again…will I be able to hear the metal clips chinking together!
Picture below for those (like me) that like a gory image!