Hi all, I hope you are all well, and improving.
I wonder if anyone can answer my question.
i was seen by my doctor a few weeks ago, as he said I had blood in my faecies. He examined me, and found a lump in my abdomen. It was slightly tender. He has provisionally assumed that I have slow-growing tumour on my bowel.
I was just wondering if Imatinib (400mg) per day, would change his diagnosis.
Regards
Richard
I'm not aware that that is a side effect of imatinib, or linked in any way, so its probably quite reasonable for your doctor to refer you for some investigations. I'm guessing that will be a colonoscopy. There is always a fair chance it might turn out not to be bowel cancer. There are lots of things like diverticulitis, polyps, colitis etc, that are not cancerous that can cause bleeding and sometimes lumps in the abdomen. Even if it is, bowel cancer is also one of the more treatable cancers out there, so good luck!
Sounds like it is early days in your diagnosis and there may well be non surgical treatments that can be tried and keep things under control. Don't lose hope. We all have a time after a new diagnosis where everything feels very bleak but as time passes things get easier. Hopefully it has been caught early and can be stopped from giving you too many problems.
