Sunday, January 06, 2008

New Post on Medicana: Colon Cancer

If you or someone you know has been diagnosed with colon cancer, please read my latest post on Medicana.

Even if you don't know anyone with colon cancer, please read it anyway - if you are at risk for it or are 50 or older, you should be getting tested regularly for this disease, which is preventable and very curable when found early.

9 comments:

Distributorcap said...

ooh one of my favorite things - a colonoscopy

i have had a few -- and actually it is the prep that is worse than the test itself -- especially if you have a good dose of valium and demerol.

thanks for this post --- you are so right ---

Mauigirl said...

Yes, the prep is definitely the worst part. The actual procedure is a breeze!

I think one of the things they give you now is called Versed - it is an amnesiac - so you don't remember a thing afterwards; it's just like being completely under anesthesia even though you're not.

denverdoc said...

I dithered over whether or not to get a colonoscopy for three years past the big five-oh. What finally decided me was the realization that I would rather undergo the procedures with the dim possibilities of complications than ever be diagnosed with cancer and live with the regret that I could've avoided it by getting a colonoscopy.

Versed is grand! The next day I felt residually buoyant, as if something marvelous had happened the previous day--an affair? a lottery win?--but alas, just the procedure.

Larry said...

Thanks for the info on a subject most care not to think about.

Mauigirl said...

Femaildoc, I wish my husband would think the way you did! He still hasn't had his yet. That is the way I look at all these tests and preventive things we do. I'm glad you went ahead with it!

I too felt the same way after the sedation/Versed combo, at least that afternoon after the procedure! I was in a state of slight euophoria. Good stuff.

Larry, thanks, I hope my message reaches some folks who may not have wanted to get checked out and that it changes some minds.

Rhea said...

A few of my grandparents had it, so I got tested early. I am OK. Yay! I gave up red meat about 17 years ago, so that may have helped.

Mauigirl said...

Rhea, good for you getting tested early. Giving up red meat could definitely have helped as that seems to add to the risk.

Mary Ellen said...

I have a brother who had colon cancer and lost one of his kidneys and most of his colon, only about two inches left. The only reason the doctor saved it at all was because he was so young. Unfortunately, the surgery caused some other nerve damage and he cannot urinate without a catheter and that will be the rest of his life. My grandfather had colon cancer and eventually died from cancer that had spread, but he still stayed alive for almost twenty five years after the surgery. He lived to 98 years old. ...and he smoked. I think it was the ravioli and canoli that kept him alive for so long. ;-)

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