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My Dad had to have a section of his colon removed at 88 years old. I would still have the test every 5 years.
Same thing here. After his colon cancer diagnosis at 88 my dad asked his doctor if he really thought it would be worth all the trouble, having major surgery at his age, and his doctor said, "In 10 years you'll thank me!" And that came true. By then the doctor had passed, but my dad was alive and well at 98, and cancer free!
Personally I don't get all the dread and drama around the test. A few hours of diarrhea vs death or colostomy bag? I'll take "the runs" please.
Totally agree! Sure, the procedure is rather unpleasant but it's survivable. One of those "adulting" things. Maintaining a sense of proportion/perspective is an important life skill.
Last edited by Parnassia; 04-07-2023 at 02:33 PM..
I had my last one in August and it definitely will be my last. It put my lower digestive system to sleep and it didn't want to wake up again.
I was reading all kinds of stories online about people this had happened to and what a lifestyle problem it was. Had never occurred to me such a thing could happen but I know after seventy anesthesia can do strange things to people.
I only had two settings - off or, given any artificial encouragement, fast forward. Both are undesirable.
Cost me quite a bit of money and time to solve the problem. I kept mentioning the earlier colonoscopy as the starting point but no medical people seemed interested in connecting the two.
I had my last one in August and it definitely will be my last. It put my lower digestive system to sleep and it didn't want to wake up again.
I was reading all kinds of stories online about people this had happened to and what a lifestyle problem it was. Had never occurred to me such a thing could happen but I know after seventy anesthesia can do strange things to people.
I only had two settings - off or, given any artificial encouragement, fast forward. Both are undesirable.
Cost me quite a bit of money and time to solve the problem. I kept mentioning the earlier colonoscopy as the starting point but no medical people seemed interested in connecting the two.
You think it was the anesthesia or the colonoscopy itself, or some of both, that caused your problems?
The first colonoscopy that I had didn't put me to sleep for the procedure. They simply gave me something to relax me. I was able to watch on a TV screen what the camera saw as it traversed my colon. It wasn't painful although I did feel a bit of "pressure" in my abdomen as it made the big turn in my colon.
If the anesthesia is so dangerous, I would have no problem doing it without the anesthesia.
I had a sigmoidoscopy once and they did that without any sort of anesthesia at all. I watched it on the screen as he did it. The scope for sigmoidoscopy is about half as long as the colon scope. It was basically painless, but a bit mortifyingly embarrassing because it was my first time.
You think it was the anesthesia or the colonoscopy itself, or some of both, that caused your problems?
Hopefully it's better now.
I wouldn't know. Couldn't find much information about it. Maybe it was coincidental but seems connected to me.
I finally found my way to a nurse practitioner who prescribed a lot of fiber and after three months I started to return to normal again. It was frustrating because no one seemed to be able to tell me who to see and medical people were testing me and telling me nothing was wrong.
It was a friend who finally recommended this woman.
So - a funny story. I'm on vacation in Mexico and didn't pack the supplemental fiber capsules. Thought I could manage with diet and if I needed them I could buy some here.
Well, as usual, traveling took some readjustment of my digestive system so I went to the farmacia for some fiber. They didn't have capsules but some really foul stir-in powder I thought I could get down with fruit juice.
I read all the directions and understood best I could. Not familiar with a lot of medical terms in Spanish.
Well, surprise, surprise. This was not a supplement but a fast-acting laxative. Just exactly what no tourist needs in Mexico.
Upon further investigation it appears to be a product people with eating disorders misuse to keep their weight down. It worked like a charm.
Just one of the many misunderstandings that can happen when I travel. SMH.
Well, there's the last car payment, the last mortgage payment, the last day of school ( thinking when you were a kid).
IMO thinking it's your last colonoscopy because your last couple/few were screening colonoscopies and were clear, and you will have aged out of screening colonoscopies when it's time for the next one, would have me doing the happy dance.
And I almost got there..... my last colonoscopy five years ago was clear. The guy told me to come back in 10 yrs, even wrote it on my discharge instruction sheets. I didn't say so, but I was thinking I had no plans to come back in 10 years, as I was 70 at the time and would be 80 in 10 yrs. No more colonoscopies for me, Yeay!!!!!
Well, yanno the old saw about how man makes plans and G-d laughs...... Four years after that last colonoscopy, after investigation of severe iron deficiency anemia due to GI bleeding, the doc tells me I need another colonoscopy to find that bleeding. Turned out it came from a large adenocarcinoma in my transverse colon. No family history, no previous polyps of any size. Well, the tumor was removed along with the good portion of the colon. Turns out the surgery got it all, no mets, no positive lymph nodes, and I didn't need chemo. But turns out I'm not done with colonoscopies, these are part of the surveillance measures along with the scans and blood work., I'm supposed to have another colonoscopy this summer, though hopefully unless they see something the next one won't be for 3 years. All in all, if I had to have colon cancer I'm grateful it turned out this way, and fingers crossed it stays away. But I thought I was finished with colonoscopies........
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