First Doctor's Visit

The day finally came for my first visit to the Gastroenterologist. I checked in at the desk and waited. We all know what it's like to wait in the doctor's office - a fish tank, some magazines, some more waiting, wondering why you're paying to wait 20 extra minutes. I looked around this large waiting room and noticed that at age 30, I was by far the youngest patient in the room.

A glance at the magazines available told the same story. I seem to remember titles like - Senior Living, Retired and Old, I Have More Wrinkles Than You! and Oh the Places I've Already Been. Ok, so most of those were made up, but you get the idea - this place was for people older than I was... or so I thought.

After the nerve-racking wait, I was summoned to get my vital signs checked. Along the way it seems I got asked a similar series of questions by the nurse's aid, the nurse, and eventually the Physician's Assistant. They would take note of my weight - not overweight at all. I informed them that I was running until this started 3-6 times per week. At first they were straight-forward with their questions, then more disbelieving -

Any abdominal pain? no
Ever been told you have hemorrhoids? no
Do you drink? no
Do you smoke? no
Have you ever drank? no
Have you ever smoked? no
Any family history of intestinal problems or cancer? no

The questions went on and on, and they seemed ever the more skeptical. I felt like they were either terrified of what I might have, or thought I was making the whole thing up.

Eventually the P.A. said something like, "Well, you're too young to have cancer so it's either diverticulitis or Crohn's Disease." This led me to believe that the first thing he thought of was cancer. He said it could also be a parasite. Blood work, a stool sample, and a colonoscopy were ordered. The couple weeks it would be until the colonoscopy seemed an eternity away!

First Symptoms

The first symptoms occurred in about August of 2005. There was some blood in the toilet. Not a lot, but some each time I had a bowel movement. No pain meant it probably wasn't hemorrhoids. I decided not to go to the Doctor right away. I've never been the type to run to the Doctor the instant I felt a sniffle or something. As I tried to convice myself each day that this wasn't a big deal, I started to realize it might be.

Especially concerning to me was the fact that I had no pain with the bloody stool. If there had been sharp pain I would have assumed the blood was from hemorrhoids, even though I had never had any. Without the pain, other possibilites creeped in. Could it be a polyp? Was it cancer? The blood seemed to be increasing a little. Now I was having stools three times per day instead of one.

Not wanting to concern my wife, I decided to make a Doctor's appointment on my own. I consulted a friend, Nancy, for the names of some local gastroenterologists. She was somebody I trusted. She is somebody I would come to lean on for advice and support on a regular basis.

I called a Doctor's office and made an appointment. They wanted to know if there was pain? - No. How about cramping? - No. Any abdominal discomfot at all? - Well, if I push on my bladder hard enough then it kind of hurts. They said they would send me some papers to fill out and bring to my appointment, which was in a week or so.

A day or two later my wife came to me and asked what a gastroenterologist was. Why? She explained that we must have gotton some mail intended for my father or grandfather (we have similar names). I told her it was mine. She became very concerned as I had to explain what had been going on. She wanted to know why I hadn't told her sooner. You worry too much! That was three or four weeks you didn't have to worry.

Now I just had to wait for that first appointment.