It may seem strange, but Mark Swanson had been waiting for his operation for months.
The minor surgery, scheduled for June 2020, would finally repair a common injury to his butt that had caused him ‘annoying’ pain for 18 months that, at times, worsened and prevented him from sleeping.
The problem was not life-threatening, but it caused enough day-to-day problems that it affected his daily tasks.
You certainly never expected to wake up to a cancer diagnosis.
Mark Swanson originally had surgery to repair an anal fissure
Doctors found a 2.2-inch tumor in his rectum and diagnosed him with stage three colon cancer.
Far from repairing a minor injury, the procedure resulted in his doctors discovering a two-inch tumor in his rectum; It was colon cancer.
Swanson first visited the doctor in December 2018 for persistent pain she was experiencing in her left lower back.
He was diagnosed with a Sacroiliac joint problem: o Improper movement of the joints in the lower part of the spine.
Doctors determined this diagnosis after a practical examination and an x-ray, he said.
He was prescribed over-the-counter pain relievers. But when the pain did not subside, he was prescribed stronger medications.
This still didn’t work, so doctors ordered radiofrequency ablation in January 2020, a procedure to kill the nerves around the lower back to eliminate pain.
It would later turn out that this was a procedure he did not need.
After the ablation, Swanson said the pain returned, prompting him to be sent to a neurologist, who found nothing.
His primary care doctor then referred him to a colorectal surgeon while they tried to rule out possible causes of the problem.
Swanson said spots of cancer were seen in his lungs and he had to undergo more treatment.
This surgeon diagnosed him with an anal fissure after “sticking his finger up my butt” and scheduled his surgery, the U.S. Air Force worker said.
The operation was intended to repair anal fissure, a small benign tear in the anus that affects one in 10 adults, but when doctors began the surgery they found no tear.
On June 30, 2020, Swanson underwent scheduled surgery to re-suture the fissure.
But when he woke up, the doctors told him that they could not perform the procedure because they discovered that he did not have an anal fissure, but that the then 35-year-old had a 2.2 inch tumor in rectum that appeared to grow through intestine wall.
After undergoing additional testing, the following month Swanson’s cancer was determined to be stage three colon cancer, a diagnosis with a 65 percent survival rate.
Swanson, who lives in Ohio, told DailyMail.com that she broke down and cried when the doctor told her.
He said: ‘I felt like my life was over. The doctor just came, he told me he had cancer and left. It felt cold, clinical, like it was just another day at the office for him, but for me it was life-changing.”
He was prescribed 10 rounds of chemotherapy and 35 rounds of radiation therapy to shrink the tumor.
But his cancer was not responding to treatment, so his anus, rectum and lower colon had to be removed while doctors tried to eliminate the cancer. This took place in May 2021.
This led to him being fitted with a colostomy bag, or a bag on the side of his body into which waste from his intestines is emptied, which Swanson described as “the end of his life” and caused him to fall into “a depression.” severe.”
After visiting several doctors, she was finally told she could use a method called colostomy irrigation, which involves flushing the intestines every day with water to remove waste rather than allowing it to slowly empty into a bag.
He was declared in remission in 2021, but earlier this year scans revealed two lumps in his lungs and doctors told him the cancer had returned.
He has now undergone another five rounds of radiation to reduce them and is awaiting the results of a scan to find out if the spots have reduced.
He was offered chemotherapy but was told there was only a 50/50 chance of success, so he refused the treatment.
Mr Swanson told this website: “I doubt that decision every day.”
‘Did I make the right decision? What will happen now? “There are so many unknowns.”
Data from JAMA Surgery showed that colon cancer is expected to increase by 90 percent in people ages 20 to 34 by 2030.
Swanson is currently awaiting the results of a scan following his radiotherapy for lung cancer.
He added that he often wonders if, if his cancer had been detected when he first visited the doctor in December 2018 to complain of back pain, his situation could have been avoided.
He said: ‘Would it have gone to stage three? Would I be in the position I am now fighting lung cancer and be terrified of it showing up elsewhere?
“A lot of things were done wrong in reaching my diagnosis and I hope that others can learn from my experience and watch for all the signs and know that doctors are not the know-it-alls they pretend to be.
He added: “I’m gay too, and being told I had to have a colostomy bag, I felt like my life was over, like I was being judged like no other.”
The colostomy is permanent for Swanson, who will now need to wash his bowels every morning for the rest of his life.
Swanson is just one of millions of young people to receive shocking cancer diagnoses, including Princess Kate, who revealed she had cancer last month and that it was discovered during abdominal surgery.
Early-onset cancer (diagnosed before age 50) has been on the rise around the world and in the United States, where it has increased by one to two percent each year.
For people under 40 in the United States, cancer cases have increased 35 percent over the past four decades.
The crisis has stumped experts as they scramble to find an answer to the epidemic.
Colon cancer is one of the diseases that increases the most among young people: cases have increased by 50 percent in the last two decades. It is projected to become the most common cancer in this age group within the next four decades.
Due to the increase, the U.S. The Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) has changed the screening age from 50 years to 45 years.
But some patients argue that this is not enough to address the problem, saying the age should be lowered even further so that health insurers will cover colonoscopies, the gold standard of screening, for more young adults.
Doctors performed a CT scan on him in June 2019, Swanson said, but reported that his “colon was normal.”
Swanson said her medical team never recommended a colonoscopy before her surgery for an anal fissure and believes this was due to insurance issues.
A 2020 survey from the Colorectal Cancer Alliance found that many patients with colorectal cancer symptoms were initially misdiagnosed or ruled out.
“They (USPSTF) have lowered the age from 50 to 45, but that’s just ridiculous when you have this early-onset epidemic in men in their 20s and 30s,” he said.
Despite the problems, Swanson said she entered into a relationship shortly after being told she was in remission from cancer.
The couple is close, having known each other since growing up in Oklahoma, and Swanson says they now see each other about once a month.
They both have hope for the future.