Today I took a day off work and had a colonoscopy. This is my 4th in 5 years and while I really detest having these things, I have them for good reason.
Back in 2015 I knew I had a colon problem. I won’t get into the gory reasons why I knew this, but lets just say I knew. A quick visit to my family doctor (GP for you Brits out there) and I had my first colonoscopy lined up.
I had this back when I lived in GA, at one of the Atlanta Gastroenterology centers. The procedure really is painless, short and I encourage everyone to have one for screening purposes. In my case, my issue was discovered, and found to be a polyp. The polyp was removed and subsequent testing indicated that it was cancerous. Lucky for me, it was just the polyp and the cancer had not spread any further,
Having removed the polyp, I had to have a follow up colonoscopy shortly afterwards and another colonoscopy to check for further polyps a year later. So in the space of almost two years, I had three colonoscopies.
After the last one was clear so I was supposed to schedule my next one in three years just to make sure where we no more polyps. Well today was that day, and a small polyp was indeed found. I have to wait a few days for the pathology results but I am not concerned.
The moral of this story is manyfold; if I were not living in this age, that polyp would never have been found I would likely have died a painful death of colon cancer. The technology that we have can be put to good use by good people and this is yet another example where literally lives can be saved by the tech that we have.
But lastly, I would encourage everyone to have a screening when your doctor recommends it. In my case, my problem was around the time when I was due for me first screening, so I would have had one anyway, and in my case I can say I survived cancer, because of early screening.
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