She Was Diagnosed With Colon Cancer at 32. These Were Her First Symptoms.

33-year-old Racquel Adams was facing quite a few problems, but nothing could prepare her for what it really was – colon cancer. It began with her bowel movements becoming more frequent and strange. She thought it might be irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). She also thought that maybe it was a food allergy. Unfortunately, she did not have health insurance so she could not afford an immediate doctor’s visit. Instead, she hoped fiber supplements and changes to her diet would take care of whatever it was.

Then, she managed to get a job that provided health insurance. This gave her the chance to see a primary care doctor. The doctor chalked it up to nervousness. However, there were no signs of her symptoms getting better. In 2023, she found out she had colon cancer. Furthermore, it was already in the fourth stage. TikTok is where Raquel has been talking about her experience with the condition and what she wants other people to know about getting help as soon as possible. Here is a short summary of her experiences, and a warning too, about what the symptoms were.

The Beginning Of The Journey Against Colon Cancer

She developed gastrointestinal troubles in 2019, before the pandemic. She was living with a flatmate when they started chatting about my frequent restroom visits. Racquel remembers: “I could go number two 8 to 10 times a day and never feel like I had a complete bowel movement.” So, she conjectured with her flatmate that she might not be getting enough fiber or eating ‘healthy enough.’ She could have had IBS, gluten, or dairy intolerance. But she never thought I might have cancer.

She had no health insurance, so she rarely saw the doctor during her 20s unless it was an emergency. She decided to take Metamucil, a fiber supplement, intermittently to regulate her bowel motions and, hopefully, cure this random diarrhea instead of seeking professional advice. This helped temporarily.

@feltica It might not be the dairy or the coffee causing you to run to the bathroom. Take your bowel health seriously, and if you have any of these symptoms make sure you and your doctor check for cancer first. #cancer #colon #colorectacancer #ibs #millennial #genz @colorectal cancer alliance ♬ original sound – Flereous

She then went to Seattle in 2021 and landed a tech job with good health insurance. In 2022, her symptoms were back. Till then, they were fairly silent. My bowel movements got painful due to frequent restroom visits. She explains: “I was going to the bathroom a lot again, and my bowel movements became uncomfortable. My stools were pencil-thin, sometimes orangish-red in color, and occasionally there’d be a little blood. I got abnormally full after eating. I was bloated, no matter what I ate—I tried being dairy-free, then gluten-free.” While reminiscing, she understands that she should have understood how significant these warning signs were.

Further Diagnosis And Help

She then underwent her first physical in almost ten years in May 2023. Racquel told her doctor about how she’d been having frequent, sometimes painful bowel motions, bloody stools, and constant bloatedness since 2019. She mentioned her symptoms were growing worse. Her doctor suggested that she probably had anxiety and gas and arranged a mental consultation. She believed the diagnosis. Thinking back on it, Racquel understands that her identity (a minority, a woman, and only 32 years old), led to her symptoms being dismissed in this manner.

Three weeks later, Racquel had significant abdominal pain. It was agonizing pain across her entire abdomen, even a part of her lower back. It was so bad that she nearly fainted in my flat. She usually avoids medicines and doctors, but on that day, her intuition forced her to the ER. This time around, her ER doctor requested a CT scan, abdominal ultrasound, and comprehensive blood work for my pain. The results showed that Racquel had cancer on her ovaries and liver cancer. The initial diagnosis was that Racquel had ovarian cancer.

She then scheduled an oncologist visit, who performed a liver biopsy. Then they discovered that my colon cancer, adenocarcinoma, had metastasized to other organs. She had stage four colorectal cancer. Further examinations were done via an endoscopy and a colonoscopy. 

Racquel learned that colon cancer grows very slowly. She might not have known, but she may have had the cancer for eight to ten years or even her entire 20s. It’s common not to notice (or even have severe) signs of colon cancer until it’s reached stages three or four. Plus, signs like feeling sick, having trouble going to the toilet, or having diarrhea, constipation, or both, can be caused by a lot of different health problems. Many of them can be equally serious, such as ovarian cancer, while some are less serious, like IBS.

The Struggle Since Then

Racquel has since undergone extensive and regular chemotherapy and blood testing. Unfortunately, her doctors have deemed her condition terminal due to the size and spread of the cancer. Nevertheless, Racquel is determined to fight till her last breath. Whatever the conclusion, she reflects on how it has taught her self-advocacy. If she had not listened to her intuition in 2023 of visiting the ER, she may have not survived till now. 

For us, it is another reminder that the symptoms of abdominal cancer are usually extremely mundane. However, if we do not get them treated, and do not seek second opinions, it might be too late when the proper diagnosis does arrive. Always have yourself checked.