Londoner Geoffrey Seymour, then 40, noticed something wrong with his body on an ordinary day when he went to the toilet. He decided to see a doctor and after some tests he was diagnosed with bowel cancer in advanced stage.
Seymour's disease was already in stage 4 and he had metastases in his liver. The news took the man by surprise, as he had no obvious symptoms and felt healthy.
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Except for what happened that day when he decided to seek medical help.
What is the first sign of Geoffrey's advanced bowel cancer?
What made the 40-year-old Londoner seek medical help was the realization that there was blood in his stool.
However, doctors warn that other alterations in the functioning of the intestine should also be investigated. The list includes persistent constipation or diarrhea.
These symptoms are often overlooked or attributed to food or hydration. Therefore, most do not seek medical help and only realize that something is wrong when something is in an advanced stage.
Treatment
In Geoffrey Seymour's case, he had five cycles of chemotherapy every three weeks. The intervention helped to decrease injuries in the liver, but doctors still had to intervene surgically and remove a third of the organ.
A month later, he needed another round of chemotherapy after scans showed more tumors in his liver. Although the treatment worked, surgeons performed another liver surgery.
However, the chemotherapy stopped responding. Geoffrey, today, is in Germany to undergo dendritic cell therapy. The idea is for each patient to take a “personalized” vaccine to stimulate their immune system.
Intestine Cancer
As with Geoffrey, bowel cancer most often has no symptoms. Except when it's well advanced in the patient.
If not diagnosed and treated in time, it can be fatal. There is also the possibility that the disease will spread to other parts of the body.
Therefore, the patient must always be aware of any changes in his body. Including:
- Blood in the stool or stool
- Altered fecal habits, such as pencil-thin stools change of constipation
- for diarrhea and vice versa
- Paleness, constant tiredness, exhaustion, drop in performance, weight loss
- Palpable hardness in the abdomen and/or enlarged lymph nodes
- Abdominal pain that lasts for more than a week
- Loud bowel sounds, rumbling, strong and persistent flatulence
- Frequent urge to defecate
More than that, it's important to take preventive exams periodically. Especially if there is a family history of the disease.
Graduated in Social Communication at the Federal University of Goiás. Passionate about digital media, pop culture, technology, politics and psychoanalysis.
