Post colon cancer/hernia surgery concern. Any advice is greatly appreciated.?

My dad was diagnosed with colon cancer in August 2004. He had surgery in October 2004. He followed up and had good CAT scans and colonoscomies (sp). Everything always looked fine. He had a hernia from the surgery and had surgery on it November 2007. It was rough and he had some complications. Today I found out that he was up all night throwing up. He went to the doctor and they said they thought it was a virus. They did an Xray and didn't see anything unusual but went ahead and sent it to a radiologist. He was throwing up and had diarrahea which were a few of his cancer symptoms. I'm freaking about a bit because although it may be a virus I'm worried it may be cancer or hernia related. Any advice or info? Thanks!

You are right to be concerned . . your father might consider asking for a colonoscopy . . or even a PET scan (will detect any 'hot spots' in the body that might contain cancer). Anyone with a history of cancer needs to be forever vigilant . . cancer has a nasty way of returning. Hopefully this will turn out to be nothing . . but do stay on top of it . . a call to his oncologist and further testing would not be out of line.

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http://cancercom.co.cc

Your father did the right thing by going to his doctor right away with his symptoms before he ended up getting dehydrated. Depending on when he had his last colonoscopy, I'd say there's probably nothing to worry about. I'm assuming he must have a colonoscopy at least every year. The x-ray that they did in the office is always sent to the radiologist for his/her review. If his physician didn't see anything then that is good news.

Give your father another day to get over his symptoms. If he's still not any better by tomorrow night, take him to the nearest walk in clinic for an evaluation. Good luck.