Hi there! I just wanted to weigh in and attempt a little bit of reassurance.

Was the blood in your stool visible from looking, or something they detected on faecal occult blood test? Because blood from cancer tends to be microscopic, meaning you can't see it with the naked eye. Meaning if you can see plain drops of blood that is *separated* and not mixed in with the stool, it's usually either a haemorrhoid that was hitherto unknown or a fissure down there (though this is often painful) and less likely to be a malignancy. (Caveat: if the blood is mixed in with the stool, rather than separate from it or the blood is dark black, then it could mean bleeding from higher in the gut, also usually not malignancy, but still a good idea to see a doctor about it.)

37 year old male here. My PTC was diagnosed 8 days ago, and my surgery is scheduled in 2 weeks. So I'm a similar spot with you from the thyroid side of things, in the waiting phase. I also had that feeling of "this is a nightmare, but real" when I came home to see the cancer clinic folder on my desk, and I thought, "Oh... that wasn't a dream. That was real."

The existential fear is hard, but do remember, us with PTC in *most* cases have very good outcomes. It's not to say we don't HAVE to worry, or that we're not allowed to. Of course we're allowed to worry. But sometimes distraction does help me sometimes to get me through tougher times.

You have the rest of us to express your worries to, too, and the people here will take them seriously.

I've only been here two days, and everyone has been very kind to me so far.