Just had the mammogram and today I get a letter re the other cancer test, where we have to collect a sample.yeuk! Again another not very pleasant procedure, but a VERY necessary one.
My letter says theyll be sending another letter in 2 weeks, with the kitand instructions. It also says if i need a carer or someone to help me with thecollection, then I have to ring and get some important information` first.
I’ve had this letter and the kit to do it, but to be honest I thought about it for a while and decided it was horribly messy so I never got round to do it. If I get another chance I will do it, but it is difficult so you would need help.
Did this test recently. I don’t know what special instructions a carer would need other then the ones that come with the kit. Very strange.
Janet, its not messy if you have a solid stool and can catch it in a glove or on a bit of loo paper. If you are loose, then it’d be more difficult. No, its not pleasant to do , but well worth it when you get the negative result.
We have had a few of these testing kits sent us over the last - l think -10yrs. At first we all had a bit of a giggle about doing it.
You have to test three seperate ‘poo’ times. Some of my friends were laughing because it would take them ages to do as they were not ‘regular’. One of them only went once a week. l told them l could beat them as l could do the three seperate stages in about one hour - first thing in the morning.
As we live in a small rural village - with just the one post-box - and only one collection a day - we joked with Richard are postie that we would all get together for a take-away lndian - then do the test - and post all the kits in the postbox on the Saturday afternoon - as they would not be collected until Monday evening. He was not amused - as there was at least 20 of us who had received the kits.
But joking aside - lt is easy to do - and so important - as it can save lives.
I have done it before, for a private clinic. I was nervous giving the samples (which, like yours, you do at home in advance), and it was…well, messy!
Imagine my mortification when they opened the sample and tested, during the appointment, while I was THERE! It only took a couple of ticks - they just put a couple of drops of some chemical on there, which apparently would change colour if there were any trace of blood in faeces.
No blood doesn’t prove you couldn’t possibly have bowel cancer, but makes it a lot less likely.
Thankfully, all was well. But I had thought it would be sent off anonymously to a lab, and not that I was going to have to sit there in the same room, while someone examined my poo!