Tomorrow, because I have a history of bowel polyps, I will set off early in the morning for my (third) biennial colonoscopy. Had I not switched doctors in 2004 I might have developed undiagnosed colon cancer because my Ottawa doctor felt that the barium enema I had had five years earlier would serve as a ten-year prognosis. He also thought I was too young to have any indication of bowel cancer. He was wrong. And it was only because I had had an extreme bout with irritable bowel that I made an appointment with my new Toronto doctor to ask her opinion. Otherwise, I had no overt symptoms apart from the chronic IBS I have suffered (along with 25 million Americans) most of my life.
My sister also has a history of bowel polyps (they began in her forties), and our grandfather had a colostomy when he was in his sixties. I remember him coming to visit in Fredericton, humiliated by the bag at his side. I didn't really know him, but his shame permeated the apartment and made everyone well aware of how angry he was. Fortunately, he survived. That there is a genetic component to colon cancer -- although there needn't be for a person to have the disease -- is evident.
In 2003 my best friend, Kathy, was told she had eighteen months to live, after having surgery for two bowel masses and a diagnosis of metastasized liver cancer. Kathy is one of those remarkably optimistically strong women and, against every odd, she survived --- but it is no thanks to her St. John gp who kept telling her she had irritable bowel and that she, too, was too young to be concerned with colon cancer -- despite her brother having had a large portion of his bowel removed when he was in his twenties.
It is also important to note that both times I took the occult blood/stool sample test -- now touted on TV as the definitive test for colon cancer -- I had negative ( = no early cancer) results, and yet both times I took that test I had existing polyps that could have become full-blown cancer had I avoided the colonoscopy.
I am not eager to take this test, but I try to look at it this way:
The colonoscopy, without drugs, takes 20 minutes. And if you can have the drugs, the experience is apparently la la wonderful.
The prep, done the day before, is an excuse to take a day off.
The two small bottles of Citromag, ingested three hours apart, taste like salty, lemony soda pop, and they are easily digestible.
All day long prior to the procedure you are permitted to eat (non-red) jello, soup, juice or popsicles. You can sit up in bed and read, watch movies, or do crossword puzzles. In fact, I was able to lie back and enjoy Adam Lambert singing Mad World -- I find it kind of funny, I find it kind of sad -- on Regis and Kelly twice today.
And think of how you'll feel in the morning, stepping on the scales five pounds lighter. And what an excuse to indulge in your favourite foods later in the day. I am not exactly sure, although I should be, how early a person with a family history should be checked, but I intend to ask tomorrow. I am just grateful that there is someone out there who can take a peek and look after what needs to be tended.
*As it turns out, I decided to post this entry after the procedure (on account of my Cape Breton superstitious genes). But I'm glad I did because I learned...only 5% of bowel polyps become cancerous, and polyps that are smaller than 2.5 centimetres (the one I had today was about 2 millimetres) are typically benign -- although all are sent away to the lab for checking.
On the other hand, of the last 16 cases of colon cancer my doctor has diagnosed, 12 of those individuals were between the ages of 36 and 45. Colon cancer, while highly treatable, is on the increase, largely because of our high-fat red-meat diet. If there is a family history, the rule states that you should have your first colonoscopy when you are ten years younger than the person in your family was at the time of diagnosis. That said, there is a question of whether ten years is soon enough. Given the statistics the doctor quoted this morning, I wouldn't wait.
By the way, today I timed the appointment to be absolutely sure. I was in and out in twenty minutes...which feels bit short, considering how handsome my doctor is.
<:^)
