A student has told of her shock after being diagnosed with stage 4 bowel cancer after mistaking the symptoms for anaemia. Laila Hudson, from Glasgow, first realised something was wrong when she began having stomach and bowel problems in the summer of 2017.
Doctors initially diagnosed her with anaemia after suffering from distended and bloated stomach, spasm-like pain, a loss of appetite, a constant need to pee and stabbing pain in her bladder when she went to the toilet. Over the next three years, she was prescribed iron tablets as medics suspected that it was a re-occurrance of the blood disorder.
The 29-year-old's condition only worsened as the most glaring symptoms of the cancer became more apparent in April 2020. Laila told Glasgow Live: "My symptoms started in the summer of 2017 when I was diagnosed with anaemia. Over the next three years, I would need multiple courses of iron tablets for recurrent anaemia.
"I had zero awareness of bowel cancer symptoms at this point in my life so I never questioned why I had such persistent anaemia. My more glaring symptoms started in April 2020. My stomach was extremely distended and bloated constantly – I felt like I had a bowling ball in my stomach."
Laila was prescribed irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) medication alongside antibiotics over the phone, as doctors were reluctant to do a physical examination on her due to Covid. Medics eventually agreed to see her after she began experiencing excruciating pain that left her struggling to move.
She continued: "I then began getting a severe and absolutely debilitating new type of pain that left me unable to move even an inch and the doctor finally agreed to see me. As soon as he palpated my stomach he felt what he described as 'several masses'."
Her doctor referred her for an ultrasound in two weeks believing that the 'masses' could be an ovarian cyst or a fibroid. But just a day later she was rushed to hospital in extreme pain.
Initially told that she had an ovarian cyst, medics phoned her the next morning to inform her that she may have ovarian cancer due to her tumour markers being very high. Laila was left "distraught" by the news but did not tell her family as she was afraid to worry them, having moved home with her parents to help care for her mum who had been diagnosed with an aggressive brain tumour.
She said: "I had a CT scan and was then whisked down for surgery. They took out the mass, my left ovary and fallopian tube, and my appendix which they said looked inflamed. When the surgeon came to speak to me she warned me that the mass looked 'irregular' but they wouldn't know if it was cancer or not until the pathology report came back.
"I recovered well and was discharged four days later. I returned to my parents' house though I could no longer carry out my caring duties for my mum due to the surgery which was really difficult for both of us."
Laila was "delighted" when she recieved a letter from surgeons stating that they had removed a Borderline Ovarian Tumour and tests had concluded it was not cancerous. But she released something wasn't right when the pain returned and began getting worse.
Surgeons recommended that the young student go for a colonoscopy following the operation due to a small polyp found on her appendix. She said: "They advised me that it would be a routine procedure and due to Covid there was a huge backlog so I would most likely be waiting a very long time."
Laila was rushed back to hospital just four weeks after her surgery after suffering from severe pain and vomiting. She went sent to the gynaecology ward, who found some free fluid during an ultrasound but this was put down to her recent operation.
After another week of debilitating pain she was sent for a CT scan which discovered a faecal impaction. Doctors then decided to keep Laila to do a colonoscopy, due to concerns about the appearance of the mass.
She said: "That night the pain somehow managed to reach a whole new level and I remember literally screaming and clinging onto the bed for dear life while they pumped me full of morphine.
"The doctor came to speak to me deep in the night and advised me that they had sought a second opinion on my scan. I had a tumour blocking my bowel and it was most likely cancerous. I was on so many painkillers that I was unphased by this bombshell."
Due to her blocked bowel, doctors were unable to perform a colonoscopy and was taken directly for surgery with three-quarters of her colon being removed. Days later surgeons discovered the new join in her bowel was leaking and causing sepsis leading to her being rushed into surgery once again.
The following five days have been described as "the worst" of her life. Laila was told that the colon tumour was a type of cancer called mucinous adenocarcinoma and they were having a multi-disciplinary team (MDT) meeting to discuss her case. After the MDT meeting, she was told they had re-examined the ovarian tumour and it was in fact a metastasis from the bowel tumour.
She added: "My final staging was T4N1M1. I was absolutely floored. I hadn't really batted an eye when I found out I had cancer but to find out it had spread, I was terrified. I asked the doctor 'does this mean I'm going to die?' She just said 'we'll try our best to stop a recurrence'."
"She informed me they wanted to treat it aggressively and I would need six months of chemotherapy. I was devastated. I couldn't imagine putting my body through even more trauma, it felt utterly ruined and broken.
"My oncologist is fantastic and he reassured me right from the start. I finally felt listened to. I started chemotherapy seven weeks after my third surgery."
In January 2021, Laila was told that she had no evidence of disease and undergoes regular scans to monitor her progress. She said: "All I can do is live in hope that I will remain no evidence of disease."
During her treatment, Laila managed to walk a sponsored 10k and raised £4000 for The Brain Tumour Charity in memory of her mum was tragically passed away.
Laila is sharing her story to raise awareness of the cancer. She is working in partnership with Bowel Cancer UK during Bowel Cancer Awareness Month to help people #KnowTheHigh5 symptoms of bowel cancer.
The charity have launched a quiz to test the public's knowledge of the disease: www.bowelcanceruk.org.uk/quiz
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