PITTSBURGH — A little over a year ago, Shannon Gregg noticed she was going to the bathroom more frequently and decided to see a gastroenterologist.
Her doctor thought it was probably just stress, which often causes bowel dysfunction. After all, Gregg was an otherwise healthy 45-year-old. He ran some tests but nothing seemed amiss, except that her iron levels were low. That could be a sign of anemia, which might explain her changes in bathroom habits.
Gregg started getting injections of iron, but they didn't help. So she asked her doctor to run more tests. All of them came up normal. Eventually, she got a colonoscopy in June 2021. When she woke up from the procedure, her doctor told her he found several polyps and a malignant tumor in her colon. Polyps are growths on the lining of the colon, or large intestine. While usually harmless, they can develop into cancer over time.
