Get the colonscopy and my vent.

saracelica

saracelica

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saracelica
I posted about this in another thread... Please get a colonoscopy if your of that age or your doctor recommends it. I know we all have to die somehow but colon cancer if caught soon enough can be cured.

Father in law has now lost 90lbs since Thanksgiving. He was on chemotherapy but now he's too thin. He doesn't want to eat evidentially it tastes worse then cardboard. He drinks protein shakes but that's about it. Lost a layer of skin do to peeling so his hands are black/grey. No color to his face and skin and bones. His colon cancer spread to his lymph nodes before it was caught. My husband has said he won't last the year. He's passed out once due to dehydration but realized if that happened again hed have to quit working.... Since it'd be unsafe for him to be driving. He likes to work. Yesterday it became real his wife (my mil) told us she paid for 4 grave sites.... One for each of us for when the time comes.

This is just sort of venting since I don't have anywhere to vent then here so pay attention to your body.
 
Yes, and I'd suggest that you start getting them at 45 instead of the conventional 50 age. My wife had colon cancer at 52. Another well-known pilot lost his wife to colon cancer at about the same age. Don't put it off.
 
I've had three or four now. Polyps caught a couple of times. I'm sorry the family is having to go through this Sara.
 
Had my first one last year, they removed a polyp, luckily not cancerous.
 
The decision tree for getting a coloscopy is so simple.

Don't have one, fail to detect serious medical problem - very bad outcome
Don't have one, nothing wrong anyway - no negative outcome
Have one, nothing wrong - enduring the, ahem, inconvenience of the prep
Have one, detect problem - Have chance at treatment

It's a no-brainer.
 
Sorry to hear the news, Sara.

Mine is scheduled for tomorrow. Being the youngest of 10 kids, my predispositions have been clearly laid out for me and I've been getting butt videoed since forty.

Literally speaking, there are no perfect ****oles in my family. Figuratively, we all are! :goofy:
 
I like the thread title as I read "vent" to be double entendre ;)
 
Bob Noel said:
The decision tree for getting a coloscopy is so simple.

Don't have one, fail to detect serious medical problem - very bad outcome
Don't have one, nothing wrong anyway - no negative outcome
Have one, nothing wrong - enduring the, ahem, inconvenience of the prep
Have one, detect problem - Have chance at treatment

It's a no-brainer.
Click to expand...

Assumes facts not in evidence.
 
Bob Noel said:
The decision tree for getting a coloscopy is so simple.

...Don't have one, nothing wrong anyway - no negative outcome
Have one, nothing wrong - enduring the, ahem, inconvenience of the prep...

It's a no-brainer.
Click to expand...

I couldn't eat for a week after mine. That, and the prep permanently cured me of any desire to drink Gatorade.

That said, my side effects are quite unusual (I did loose 5 lbs in the prices, though). The prep is unpleasant but not unduly so. The rest of that is spot on, if there is no problem you've (hopefully) missed at most a day or two of work. If there is, you've the opportunity to detect and possibly cure it early one.

Nothing dumber than dying of a very treatable disease because you didn't catch it in time with a routine medical examination. If there are members of your family who've had colon cancer you'd be well served having it early.
 
Henning said:
Assumes facts not in evidence.
Click to expand...
Actually, the facts were in evidence:
Don't have one, fail to detect serious medical problem - very bad outcome
Click to expand...


If you don't have one, and therefor fail to detect a serious problem, you will have a very bad outcome.
 
JOhnH said:
Actually, the facts were in evidence:


[/B]If you don't have one, and therefor fail to detect a serious problem, you will have a very bad outcome.
Click to expand...

There is no evidence that death is bad considering we are designed to die.
 
Henning said:
There is no evidence that death is bad considering we are designed to die.
Click to expand...
Ok. I thought you were disputing the evidence, not the definition of the word "bad".
 
Regardless of the semantics, colon cancer is not the way you want to go.
 
write-stuff said:
Regardless of the semantics, colon cancer is not the way you want to go.
Click to expand...

No, and it won't likely be, but it may define the time frame. Not likely with my history though, probably be a different cancer that sets the schedule.
 
I just had one, after 20 years, hope they got it in time, now in chemo and radiation, maybe surgery,,, get one often..
 
bahama flier said:
I just had one, after 20 years, hope they got it in time, now in chemo and radiation, maybe surgery,,, get one often..
Click to expand...
Sorry to hear that. I hope it goes well (as well as possible) for you. Good luck. As bad as Colon Cancer is, they are making advances in treatment every day it seems.
 
SixPapaCharlie said:
I like the thread title as I read "vent" to be double entendre ;)
Click to expand...

I was thinking the same thing. From what I understand, colonoscopies can be painful to the vent.

(for that matter, doesn't a double entendre usually involve the use of the vent as well?)
 
JOhnH said:
Ok. I thought you were disputing the evidence, not the definition of the word "bad".
Click to expand...

Conversations are so much rational when people are using the same language rather than pulling it out of their (no pun intended)
 
Sac Arrow said:
From what I understand, colonoscopies can be painful to the vent.
Click to expand...

I've had two and didn't find that either of them was painful (nor even uncomfortable) in any way. YMMV.
I do know that some people experience discomfort from the prep but I didn't think it was any worse than a mild case of diarrhea. <shrug>
I have a 5-year follow up exam due later this spring and certainly am not apprehensive about it.
 
Dennis McKim said:
I've had two and didn't find that either of them was painful (nor even uncomfortable) in any way. YMMV.
I do know that some people experience discomfort from the prep but I didn't think it was any worse than a mild case of diarrhea. <shrug>
I have a 5-year follow up exam due later this spring and certainly am not apprehensive about it.
Click to expand...

I have no idea, I was making a joke in response to 6PC's post.
 
bahama flier said:
I just had one, after 20 years, hope they got it in time, now in chemo and radiation, maybe surgery,,, get one often..
Click to expand...

Sorry to hear, lots of advances in treatment over the last few years. I hope it turns out good.

Like I said, if you've got a relative who showed up with CC, get the colonoscopy. Stuff runs in families.
 
The prep is indeed the worst part of it, but it's just a couple of pretty foul tasting drinks (the nurse at the Gastro clued me in that it's much more palatable if you make it AS COLD AS POSSIBLE before swigging it down) followed by numerous trips to the toilet over the intervening few hours.

The procedure itself was a nice little 45 minute nap (and can I please have a cup of coffee now when it is over!).
 
Sorry to hear. Prayer sent.
 
Sac Arrow said:
I was thinking the same thing. From what I understand, colonoscopies can be painful to the vent.

(for that matter, doesn't a double entendre usually involve the use of the vent as well?)
Click to expand...

You might find that you enjoy them.
And there is not anything wrong with that.
 
Prep was the worst part - it proved my critics correct when they say I'm "full of *****."

The actual procedure was a non-event. Blasted out some of the remaining air, then went home as if nothing had happened.
 
ETres said:
Prep was the worst part - it proved my critics correct when they say I'm "full of *****."
Click to expand...

Butt afterwards you have pictures that prove you arent full of it...:goofy:
 
I'm in my late 40's so need to be thinking about having this done for the first time. But the part that concerns me is the sedation.

I've never undergone sedation before. Never had any kind of procedure before except having some wisdom teeth out, and that was local.

I read that here in the States, doctors tend to go overboard with sedation on colonoscopies, and that in other parts of the world they do it under partial sedation or sometimes none at all.

Partial sedation would appeal to me more than full sedation, mostly because I don't have relatives in the area (I'm single with no kids, and closest family lives across the country) that could help drive me home or watch over me afterwards. I think you're supposed to have somebody certify that they'll watch over you for 24 hours after, or something like that.

Anybody here had one done with only partial sedation?
 
Sedation wasn't a problem. Propofol was used and it was just like taking a nap. Literally, I woke and was fine.
 
Another issue for me which I forgot to note was that I have OSA and use a CPAP at night to sleep, and I've read OSA can make it trickier to fully sedate.
 
LoneAspen said:
Another issue for me which I forgot to note was that I have OSA and use a CPAP at night to sleep, and I've read OSA can make it trickier to fully sedate.
Click to expand...

Definitely something to cover with the anesthesiologist/anesthetist prior to the procedure.
 
LoneAspen said:
I'm in my late 40's so need to be thinking about having this done for the first time. But the part that concerns me is the sedation.

I've never undergone sedation before. Never had any kind of procedure before except having some wisdom teeth out, and that was local.

I read that here in the States, doctors tend to go overboard with sedation on colonoscopies, and that in other parts of the world they do it under partial sedation or sometimes none at all.

Partial sedation would appeal to me more than full sedation, mostly because I don't have relatives in the area (I'm single with no kids, and closest family lives across the country) that could help drive me home or watch over me afterwards. I think you're supposed to have somebody certify that they'll watch over you for 24 hours after, or something like that.

Anybody here had one done with only partial sedation?
Click to expand...

Haven't, but my dentist told me he did. Said he watched the whole thing on TV. Sounds kinda cool, actually. I was pretty nervy about being sedated, never had that done before. No biggie.

Now, if there's no one to bring you back it's a no-go, period. Sorry, even under a partial sedation you aren't good to drive for some time. I don't know about watching over you for 24 hours, but you do need someone to drive you home. Then again, if they're driving you home it shouldn't be that big a burden to raid your liquor cabinet and hang out a bit.
 
LoneAspen said:
I'm in my late 40's so need to be thinking about having this done for the first time. But the part that concerns me is the sedation.

I've never undergone sedation before. Never had any kind of procedure before except having some wisdom teeth out, and that was local.

I read that here in the States, doctors tend to go overboard with sedation on colonoscopies, and that in other parts of the world they do it under partial sedation or sometimes none at all.

Partial sedation would appeal to me more than full sedation, mostly because I don't have relatives in the area (I'm single with no kids, and closest family lives across the country) that could help drive me home or watch over me afterwards. I think you're supposed to have somebody certify that they'll watch over you for 24 hours after, or something like that.

Anybody here had one done with only partial sedation?
Click to expand...
I was totally sedated and although I had to provide someone to drive me home, no one looked after me for 24 hours, or even one hour. It was not needed. But I have had general anesthesia a few times and have never had any problems with it. For me the whole thing was pretty much a non-event.
 
Actually, the whole thing wasn't that bad. My wife was there to take me home, and I played it for all it was worth. Then I went golfing the next day.
 
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I was only very mildly sedated for my first one and I watched it on the monitor in real time.
Different doc for the second one and he used Versed so I have no memory of it (had a gastric endoscopy done during the same visit ... though not with the same scope <grin>).
 
Bob Noel said:
The decision tree for getting a coloscopy is so simple.

Don't have one, fail to detect serious medical problem - very bad outcome
Don't have one, nothing wrong anyway - no negative outcome
Have one, nothing wrong - enduring the, ahem, inconvenience of the prep
Have one, detect problem - Have chance at treatment

It's a no-brainer.
Click to expand...

Hate the prep. Love the idea that i'm stopping a potential problem in its tracks.
 
Do get the colonscopy, you people over 40.
I know we all must die of something, but from what I have seen, you can perhaps pick a better way.

Buzzword: "Take care of the equipment"
 
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