29F, Waiting to find out if my ascending colon cancer is stage 3
I’m 29 years old, Just here to share my story so far and see if anyone has advice or a similar experience.
Nov2025-March2026: was having diarrhea once per day and went for a colonoscopy in March2026. They found a 3.5 cm sessile polyp in the ascending colon and sent me to get it removed in-hospital, which did not occur until August 2026. They assured me the polyp did not look malignant so it was ok to wait for my referred doctor to recover from an injury so he could perform the procedure.
August 2026: the polyp was removed, and pathology came back 2 weeks later showing grade 2 adenocarcinoma in about 25% of the cells. They think it was pT1, but the margins were positive so it might be pT2. Some high-risk features were noted (10 tumor buds, 1 small blood vessel invaded, mucinous features). Tumor was micro satellite stable
September 28: CT scan completed, no metastasis
October 1: right hemicolectomy completed and all lymph nodes removed from the area. Now I must wait a month for pathology results, and to see if I will need chemo. Surgeon thinks there is 20-30% chance that 1 node will have cancer in it, in which case chemo is necessary, but he’s hopeful for no nodal involvement.
I want so badly for them to send the current tumor sample for genetic testing so I can see what mutations it has, and try to imagine what my Long-term chances are if I do need chemo. I know tumors in the ascending colon often have mutations that make them more aggressive and resistant to chemo, and I just want to know right now which of those mutations I have, if any.
This waiting game is so awful. the month-long wait for my CT scan was completely excruciating and now I have another month-long wait to know my next steps.
If you got this far, thank you for reading and thanks for any advice or support you may have <3