News Taffy

Colonoscopy. There are few words or tests that are as unpleasant to adults, are there? I just want to say that I am proud of my husband for submitting bravely and having his first colonoscopy yesterday. Since Barry turned 50 last year, he decided he should have a thorough check-up. He has now completed his checkup, including a prostate exam and last, the colonoscopy. He has a clean bill of health and no worries to show for it.

However, you don’t see me signing up for a colonoscopy yet. A day of starving and drinking a gallon of a delightful little drink called “Go Lightly” followed by a day of, well, you know what follows, isn’t high on my list of fun things to do. For the life of me, I can’t imagine why they call it Go Lightly when Go Quickly and Frequently would be more appropriate. Anyway, I’ll share the important facts about colonoscopies and colon cancer and you can decide for yourself.

Colon cancer is the number three killer in the U.S., behind lung cancer and of course, heart disease. Therefore, most doctors recommend an initial screening at age 50 unless you have other risk factors. Caught early, colon cancer is very treatable. Other risk factors include: age greater than 50, being African American, previous history of colon cancer or polyps, inflammatory intestinal problems like colitis and Crohn’s disease, family history of colon cancer, a low fiber, high fat diet, sedentary lifestyle, diabetes, obesity, smoking, heavy alcohol use, and radiation therapy for other cancers. See, I keep telling you to eat right and exercise for a good reason!

I have to be honest. My husband’s experience was not all that bad. He didn’t seem to be too hungry, and of course, they give you wonderful drugs before the procedure so you don’t remember a thing. However, he has a greater tolerance for doing without food than I do. By noon, my family would decide to kill me rather than suffer another minute listening to me complain about being hungry. Drinking the large quantity of Go Lightly was unpleasant. You are supposed to drink an 8 oz. glass every 10 minutes. Yeah, right. Barry and another friend of mine reported getting chills drinking that stuff.

There are other types of exams for colon cancer including testing the stool for blood and a virtual colonoscopy in which your intestine is pumped full of air for x-ray purposes but doctors consider a regular colonoscopy the best and most accurate test. Plus, they can remove any polyps at that time before they can become cancerous instead of having to do another procedure. You may have heard of a procedure in which you swallow a tiny camera that takes pictures of your intestine. Unfortunately, for those of us who had high hopes of escaping the traditional test, this test is only used for the small intestine and is not a screening test for colon cancer.

So, there you have it; you can decide for yourself whether the discomfort of the test is worth knowing the status of your health and preventing certain death.

Until next time,

Lisa