06/06/2025
Health Screening, Colorectal Cancer, a Positive Outcome….
Quite some time ago, I used to be an active Tennis Player. Good enough to play competitively during school days.
After starting work, I stopped playing tennis.
But then some years ago, I started playing with some SIA Cabin Crew at the SIA Sports Club.
I have since stopped due to lack of time.
I recall one of the cabin crew asking me one day what I did. They were all mostly Pilots and Cabin Crew with some office staff.
I told him that I was a doctor, and his reaction was quite interesting.
He said something like this, “wah! Your job very negative man. How you tahan…”
I replied, “ yah, come here and hit some balls and de-stress lor hahaha….”
But then I asked him hmm, why do you say that?
His reply was that in my line of work, I just listen to problems the whole day long.
I am surrounded by negativity.
I never looked at it that way before but as I thought about it, he had a point.
Not all patients we see are ill. In fact many well patients come in for routine things like Health Screening, Vaccinations and general consultation for their health and administrative stuff.
But it is true, a large part of my day is spent listening to problems.
So when good things happen, I guess it is also important to take some time to appreciate and maybe, also to share.
So here’s something with a somewhat positive outcome.
Recently, we had a patient in her late 60s who had Health Screening done at our clinic.
A Basic Health Screen was ordered consisting of blood tests for Diabetes, Cholesterol, Liver Function, Kidney Function, Calcium and Uric Acid levels, Blood count test and a Urine test.
MOH offers a subsidised screening for Colorectal Cancer for those above 50 years old. We ordered this test as well.
This stool test is known as the Faecal Immunochemical Test - we just call it FIT KIT.
What this does is test for the presence of blood in the stool. If there is blood in the stool, it can come from piles which is very common but it can also come from things which are not good.
It was fortunate for this patient that Health Screening was done.
She was found to have Diabetes - Newly diagnosed, her blood glucose was very high and needed treatment immediately.
When she came back for review, I explained to her the results.
We discussed about her diagnosis of Diabetes and we agreed on starting medication to bring her condition under control.
Her FIT KIT result came back as Positive - 2 samples were sent and both showed the presence of blood.
Such a result requires a further evaluation in the hospital setting.
After some discussion with her family, they decided to be referred to a private hospital.
I referred her to a senior and experienced surgeon at Mt Alvernia Hospital. She was seen by the surgeon who ordered a Colonoscopy. This was done in late February.
I received a phone call from the surgeon after the Colonoscope and he informed me that he had found a tumour in the colon and it looked cancerous and that Biopsies was taken to confirm the diagnosis.
Results later confirmed that the tumour was arising from a colorectal cancer.
At the same time, he told me he was ordering CT Scans to check for spread to other organs and thankfully once these were done, it showed that there was no spread.
As the patient and family were comfortable with the surgeon, they proceeded to plan for surgery to remove the cancer.
Surgery was successfully performed in March this year. The doctor wrote back to me and his opinion is that the prognosis is good.
Post operatively, she recovered well and recently came back for follow up with me for her Diabetes just last month..
I ordered blood tests and her diabetes was under control.
She will require regular medication and follow up with the clinic but otherwise there was no other issue.
Now this is a case where Health Screening made a difference.
A simple FIT KIT test led to a diagnosis of Colorectal Cancer and the tumour was removed before it could spread and cause other damage.
Blood tests diagnosed the Diabetes and it is now under control.
This is just a sharing to show that simple Health Screenings like this can make a positive difference to you and your family member’s health.
DrH
