A Glasgow student diagnosed with stage 4 bowel cancer aged 27 initially thought she had recurrent anaemia.
Laila Hudson's symptoms first began in the summer of 2017 before she was diagnosed in 2020 when her most glaring symptoms began. These included a 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.
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Laila said: "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. I was suffering an intense spasm-y type pain that felt almost like trapped wind. I had lost my appetite and felt full very quickly. I felt like I needed to pee constantly and had a stabbing pain in my bladder when I urinated."
Laila was initially prescribed irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) medication by a doctor but was unable to get surgery at first because of covid.
She said: "I was on the phone to the doctor constantly and was prescribed various antibiotics and irritable bowel syndrome medications. Due to covid, the doctors were reluctant for me to go into the surgery for a physical examination."
Just before Laila's symptoms began, her mum was also diagnosed with an aggressive brain tumour and Laila had moved in with her mum and dad to care for her. This led to Laila's symptoms being linked to stress, and she began meditating to try and alleviate them.
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'. He said it could be an ovarian cyst or a fibroid and I was put on the urgent two-week referral for an ultrasound though he said due to the pandemic it may take a while.
"The night after that appointment my pain became even more severe and I was referred to the local hospital as an emergency. I had an ultrasound that evening and a huge mass could be seen on my ovary - 20x20x19cm – no wonder I felt like I had a bowling ball in my tummy. The ultrasound technician wouldn't tell me what she thought it was, just said I needed a CT scan."
Laila was then informed by a doctor that she had an ovarian cyst that would require immediate surgery and they believed the mass was twisting her ovary, causing intense pain. However, the following morning, she was told it may be ovarian cancer due to her tumour markers being very high.
Laila said she was "distraught" by the news and did not tell her family as she was afraid to worry them.
She said: "I had a CT scan and was then whisked down for surgery. Because the mass was so large, they had to do open 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. Thankfully we were able to get carers to come in and help."
Despite receiving a letter informing her that surgeons had removed a Borderline Ovarian Tumour, and stating "this is not cancer and you need no further treatment", Laila's pain did not go away.
She said: "The pathology report came back shortly after my surgery and stated that they had removed a Borderline Ovarian Tumour. The letter stated 'this is not cancer and you need no further treatment'. I was absolutely delighted and felt the most immense relief.
"However, the spasm-y pain that had started in April had not gone away and was in fact getting increasingly worse. It seemed to peak in the evenings and sometimes became unbearable, to the point that one evening I had rung NHS24, only to be advised to take some stronger painkillers. I had been recommended for a colonoscopy following the operation due to a small polyp found on my appendix. It was at this point I began to wonder if there was something more going on."
Due to Laila's age, it was believed unlikely she would have any "significant bowel pathology".
She said: "This reassured me somewhat but didn't solve the problem of the worsening pain. They advised me that the colonoscopy 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.
"I was readmitted to hospital four weeks after my surgery with severe pain and vomiting. I was sent back to the gynaecology ward who did an ultrasound. The scan showed some free fluid which they were not concerned about and put down to my recent operation."
Laila suffered another week of debilitating pain and vomiting and was unable to eat more than a couple bites of food at a time.
She kept a food diary as suggested but struggled to see how she could carry on with her life in such pain.
After being admitted to hospital due to the severity of the pain and uncontrollable vomiting, she was given a CT which medics believed showed a faecal impaction. It was hoped that once the blockage was cleared, she would feel better and be able to go home to her mum.
Doctors then decided to keep Laila to do a colonoscopy due to concerns about the appearance of the mass.
She added: "That night the pain somehow managed to reach a whole new level (definitely an 11 on the pain scale) 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.
"By this point, my bowel was completely obstructed. They could not perform a colonoscopy due to the risk of perforation so decided to go straight to surgery instead. There was no mention of my ovarian tumour and I had forgotten all about it.
"The following day I had a bowel resection via open surgery. I had three-quarters of my colon removed and woke up in a lot of pain – I had barely recovered from my first surgery and here they were slicing me open again. I spent five days in the high-dependency unit and was then moved back to the general ward on Friday."
After the surgery, Laila found that her pain was actually getting worse. Surgeons decided to do another scan which revealed that 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."
During her treatment, Laila managed to walk a sponsored 10k and raised £4000 for The Brain Tumour Charity in memory of her mum.
She is now having regular scans to monitor her progress, after she was formally told she had no evidence of disease, in January 2021, and even returned to work in March.
She said: "All I can do is live in hope that I will remain no evidence of disease. I am hoping to have my stoma reversed this year. I have an end ileostomy which unfortunately means I will require another open surgery to reverse it but I'm very grateful that they are giving it a bash.
"Getting diagnosed with cancer during a pandemic is extremely isolating. I have had all my appointments, operations and treatments by myself. Long stints in hospital with no visitors is tough and has a big impact on your mental health and recovery.
"However, I have the most amazing group of friends and family who have supported me from afar every step of the way and for that, I am very thankful. Now I can't wait to get out and start living my life – this last year has made me realise how so very precious it is."
Laila is sharing her story to raise awareness of the bowel cancer symptoms. A new survey by Bowel Cancer UK, of 102 adults living in Glasgow, has revealed that nearly three in 10 people (29%) can’t name a single symptom of bowel cancer. The charity is launching a new campaign for Bowel Cancer Awareness Month helping people to #KnowTheHigh5 symptoms of bowel cancer. Take the symptoms quiz today: www.bowelcanceruk.org.uk/quiz
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