+ Parents | Colonoscopy Results

We came the next day at 9:00am instead because my Dad was still in so much pain that night to A&E, but my Dad's pain subsided by then, so we stuck to the appointment.

Registered at the Endoscopy Centre and waited for his turn at 11:25am. He went in as scheduled until about 2:00pm. My youngest brother and brother-in-law went for Friday prayers, I stayed back with their wifes.

Fellow surgen Dr. Ho from the Colorectal Department as with Dr. Ooi, came to inform us of the outcome of the check done by Dr. Ooi himself. My father had Colorectal Cancer right at the end of his big intestine, just before the rectum.

The cancer tumor photo taken from the Colonoscopy was quite shocking. The camera could not pass through the small hole left because the tumor had grown big enough to close the passage. That condition had to be there and growing to that size for more than 6 months as explained by Dr. Ho.

That explained his incontinence. He had to go to the toilet immediately every time he eat or drank. The condition was obvious while we were touring Sawarak together a few weeks before.

The food he eat did not pass through, instead it stuck in his large intestine the whole time. Only fluid could pass through the tiny hole that was left blocked by the tumor.

He kept silent about it all that time, saying his bowel movements were normal everyday, but failed to inform us of the liquid instead of normal stool every time he went.

I guess, it is for fear of being warded or just in denial of something terribly wrong with his health. That did not do him any good, nor to any of us either.

I was in shock and in disbelief. Never thought something like this could happen to us. Guess this is a cliched reaction to anyone.

Colon cancer is hereditary which puts us at risk too, but that will be another chapter in our life's story, another time and another place, but for now, I have to deal with what is next for my Dad.

Dr. Ho explained that due to the total blockage, Dad's large intestine was distended and swollen. Would not know if there were any more tumors in it until they operated him.

Dr. Ho explained that my Dad had 3 senarios how the operation would go, depending on what the surgen found:

• One was to immediately operate and remove the portion of the large intestine where the tumor was and joined the two ends back.
• Second was as with the first one, but if he is too weak, a small tube be inserted at the end of his small instestine to drain the food he eat to bypass the large intestine, so as to allow the large intestine to rest for the swell and sutures to heal. The tube would be connected to a Stoma Bag outside the body.
• Third, as last resort will have to remove about 60% to 70% of his large intestine if it proved to be in bad shape or raptured in any way.

Senarios 1 and 2 would not affect his bowel movements at all when he recovered, but the third one would make him go 4 to 5 times a day. The inconvenience was the least to worry. At his age, the journey to and from the tiolet would pose danger, as he may slip and fall. Another was the fact that the rectum muscles would be too weak with the constant bowel movement due to old age.

Dr. Ho suggested that they were carrying out a study on total blockage cases such as my Dad's. The clinical trial was that a stent be inserted into his large intestine where the tumor is to open up the blocked passage to let all the solids out and wait out for swell to subside. That would take two weeks. Afterwhich, he would have to come back again to remove the tumor.

The 3 senarios could only then be decided during the operation. The purpose was to eliminate the third senario. SGH had done 9 such trails so far with 100% success rate. In Spain such procedures were done to more than 90 patients with very good success rate too.

We decided to have the trial, but unfortunately did not get the chance as the random picked envelope came out as normal operation. The study had the random picking to eliminate biasness of subjects' conditions for the study to prove as successful, rather than picking on those they thought might be a sure success.

Dad had to be operated on immediately.