About a month ago, Paul, an old friend and colleague of mine, mentioned that he was having a bout of faecal incontinence.  Neither of us thought it was likely to be anything more than a temporary nuisance.  He went to his general medical practitioner who referred him to hospital for MRI and CT scans.   He was not feeling any pain or discomfort and drove to hospital 25 miles away.  When the results of the scans came back they indicated cancer of the colon, liver and lung.  He died 10 days later.