"Meagan Meadows had just started student teaching with a freshly minted master's degree in education when something in her toilet got her attention. She almost didn't notice it at first. Meadows, who's 24 and lives in Southern California, said she started to see a little bit of blood after going to the bathroom. It was incredibly faint - barely enough for her to feel scared, but she mentioned it to a couple of friends, and they urged her to get it checked out."
"The procedure revealed a walnut-sized tumor in her colon. A biopsy later found it was cancer. Cue a string of follow-up tests, which showed the cancer had spread to the surrounding lymph nodes - a stage-3 diagnosis. 'When I woke up, they asked my mom to come in and get me so we could all be in the room with the doctor,' she said. 'It was difficult to process.'"
Meagan Meadows, 24, noticed faint blood in her stool and sought advice after friends urged her to get checked. Initial exams showed mild iron deficiency and intestinal wall thickening attributed to dehydration or low fiber, and a doctor considered serious illness unlikely because of her age. Meadows scheduled a colonoscopy, which revealed a walnut-sized colon tumor; biopsy confirmed cancer. Follow-up tests found spread to surrounding lymph nodes, yielding a stage-3 diagnosis. Meadows nearly canceled the procedure and felt embarrassed initially; she is now glad she advocated for herself and underwent the colonoscopy.
Read at Business Insider
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