"Constipation - which turned out to be cancer"

I have been suffering constipation for weeks, accompanied by severe abdominal pains. After taking over-the-counter laxatives for five days without success, I saw my GP who diagnosed constipation and subscribed suppositories for another five days, with very minimal results. After seeing the GP for a second time, and awaiting the results of blood tests, I found myself in agony one evening, and decided, for the first time in almost 20 years, to head to A&E. Unfortunately, not knowing any better, I picked Wexham Park.

The doctor promptly diagnosed me with constipation, administered an enema (which yielded almost no result), then sent me home with a handful of suppositories.

Nine days later I was admitted to the John Radcliffe in Oxford, severely dehydrated, with a complete bowel blockage caused by an adenocarcinoma (i.e. cancer) in my sigmoid colon.

Not once (at Wexham Park) was I asked whether I normally suffer from constipation (the answer is no). No other investigation other than feeling my tummy, rectal exam (shudder at the thought) and blood tests were done, where a contrast x-ray would have easily shown up that further imaging needed to be done. As it was, by the time I was admitted in Oxford, I was in such a bad state that they had no choice but to fit a naso-gastric tube. For that reason alone, I will never forgive the supposed doctor that treated me that night at Wexham Park. If I never set foot in Wexham Park Hospital again, it will be a day too soon.