Exciting I know. But it’s all different when you’re the one hovering over the reddened bowl.
I’ll start with the take home points:
- Chances that I diagnose your colon cancer in the ER are next to nil. Pre-R can help with a few outpatient studies, but you really want to find a GI doc.
- Unless you are one click from dead, the chances you’ll meet an excited GI doctor in the ER with colonoscope in hand are sub-nil.
- Chances are considerably higher that the source of bright red bleeding are from a hemorrhoid or fissure.
- Bright red means lower source with active bleeding. Dark red or “coffee grounds” suggest a higher source (often stomach) with slower bleed.
- A single drop of blood explodes in water. So focus on red flags instead of bowl appearance.