wrote:
Bryan wrote:

"During my last, very rare visits to a doctor several years ago he scheduled
me for one of those [colonoscopy]. I still haven't shown up for it."
-- anonymous unless he who said it wants credit

This ng seems to have a lot of over 40 members.
If you want a few more years of boating, and someone has told you to get a
colonoscopy, swallow your pride, set your concerns for dignity aside, and
het 'er done!
Early detection is what makes colon cancer curable!
Just remember to bring wine and flowers (chocolates not necessary) to the
appointment.

That's my last pubic service message. There won't be any others.


I have a very lucky brother in law. Maybe 4 years ago, when he was
about 55 and on a vacation in San Francisco, he started crapping blood.
He put up with it for a couple of days while his vacation finished up,
and then went to the doctor for probably the 2nd or 3rd time in his
adult life when he got back to Washington. Colon cancer. Very advanced.
A colonoscopy would have detected the growths in an earlier stage,
perhaps when still benign.

Today, he's still alive. They operated and removed the tumors. He is
lucky because the cancer hadn't spread beyond his intestines. He is
lucky because there is an 80% chance of recurrence with in the first 2
years following these operations, and while his "count" is still above
normal in his blood the doctors can't find any active cancers at this
time.

He isn't so lucky in that, as a result of the operation, he had to make
a choice between
carrying a "bag" or wearing diapers the rest of his life. He went with
the diapers. Sounds like a miserable existence to me, but at least he's
still alive and can put in a day's work in a business that's his sole
joy in life.

His two slightly younger sisters (one of them my wife) went in for
colonoscopies, and were OK, but they will be watched carefully due to
family history. The Mrs said she didn't want to hog all the fun and
insisted that I get one too, and I was OK as well.

My doctor and (even my neurologist) always asks everybody over 50 if
they have had a colonoscopy. Colon or intestinal cancer is one of the
easiest deadly conditions to detect and correct at an early stage if
one gets scoped out, and one of the deadly conditions from which one
can easily die if not discovered.


A friend suffered the same fate...only he died within a couple of years.
He was almost exactly the same age as me... our mothers may have passed
in the delivery room of the hospital that handled all Catholic births in
the city at that time. He and his family grew up on the street I now
live on, he was at the same high school at the same time, and came to
work in the same company....same dept as me.
He caught his colon cancer in his mid forties, had to wear the bag for a
while, and died within 2-3 years.
Sure makes you think...and no, I've never been tested.............!

"Wayne.B" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 03 Feb 2006 18:55:15 GMT, "Bryan"
wrote:

Guys are the worst patients until we're hospitalized. I don't know what
it
is about us, but we just don't see the doctor as often as we should.

Here in FL the doctor is doing you a favor if they actually agree to
make an appointment to see you in person. Our guy likes to do phone
diagnostics via his nurse practitioner.

Appointment is the wrong word of course since it implies a commitment
to do something at a certain time. A doctor's appoinment in my
experience, and especially here, is a commitment to wait for an hour
in a room with crummy magazines and/or day time network television.
How about some internet service at the very least?

Women seem more willing to put up with this for some reason, don't
know why. I'm willing to pay more for a barber who makes meaningful
appoinments and would do the same for a doctor if I could find one.

I used to find doctor's in Manhattan to be better in this respect,
perhaps because they tend to have smaller waiting rooms, perhaps more
competition, or maybe it's because they have fewer retirees as
patients.


Where I work, we consider it a failure on our part if we don't see our next
customer on time; right on time, if not early.
I'm pretty sure I understand the guy thing about not going to the doctor.
If we can't see the bone or the internal organ, and we're still breathing,
it must not be that bad.

On Fri, 03 Feb 2006 17:28:53 GMT, "Bryan" wrote:

"During my last, very rare visits to a doctor several years ago he scheduled
me for one of those [colonoscopy]. I still haven't shown up for it."
-- anonymous unless he who said it wants credit

This ng seems to have a lot of over 40 members.
If you want a few more years of boating, and someone has told you to get a
colonoscopy, swallow your pride, set your concerns for dignity aside, and
het 'er done!
Early detection is what makes colon cancer curable!
Just remember to bring wine and flowers (chocolates not necessary) to the
appointment.

That's my last pubic service message. There won't be any others.


Add to that: If you're female and over thirty, get a mammogram!
--
'Til next time,

John H

******************************************
***** Have a Spectacular Day! *****
******************************************

I had one these done a couple of years ago and I really dreaded it.
All I could imagine was that it would be like one of those digital
prostate exams that goes on for 20 minutes.

Turns out it definitely is not nearly that bad. Somehow they dope you
up where you don't care about anything. The Doc asks you about your
favorite hobbies, the lights dim, and its over.

Worste thing about it was the day before drinking that stuff that
cleans you out. Wow, that's powerful stuff. Stay close to the toilet.

Anyway, go ahead and do it. Its not at all like the local TV news crew
climbing up in there.

Don

wrote:
I had one these done a couple of years ago and I really dreaded it.
All I could imagine was that it would be like one of those digital
prostate exams that goes on for 20 minutes.

Turns out it definitely is not nearly that bad. Somehow they dope you
up where you don't care about anything. The Doc asks you about your
favorite hobbies, the lights dim, and its over.

Worste thing about it was the day before drinking that stuff that
cleans you out. Wow, that's powerful stuff. Stay close to the toilet.

Anyway, go ahead and do it. Its not at all like the local TV news crew
climbing up in there.

Don

I woke up for a moment or two about halfway through mine, and got a
look at the inside of my intestines on a video monitor. There aren't
that many people who have seen the inside of their intestines and lived
to tell about it. :-)

I, too, woke up about 1/2 way through. Remarked to the quack that
everything looked pretty clean in there. The poor guy almost jumped out of
his scrubs. I guess not too many folks wake up in the middle of the
procedure. :=)

Butch
wrote in message
oups.com...

wrote:
I had one these done a couple of years ago and I really dreaded it.
All I could imagine was that it would be like one of those digital
prostate exams that goes on for 20 minutes.

Turns out it definitely is not nearly that bad. Somehow they dope you
up where you don't care about anything. The Doc asks you about your
favorite hobbies, the lights dim, and its over.

Worste thing about it was the day before drinking that stuff that
cleans you out. Wow, that's powerful stuff. Stay close to the toilet.

Anyway, go ahead and do it. Its not at all like the local TV news crew
climbing up in there.

Don

I woke up for a moment or two about halfway through mine, and got a
look at the inside of my intestines on a video monitor. There aren't
that many people who have seen the inside of their intestines and lived
to tell about it. :-)

Just got my cholesterol test results back.
Total 188
good 42 bad 125 or is that bad 42 good 125. Not bad for a guy fast closing
in on retirement.
The NP said it was borderline good and the Dr. wants to up my pravachol
dosage.
I then told her I haven't been taking pravachol since 2004. I got scared
after the Bayer fiasco.
I then told her that's not too bad considering I have scrambled eggs and
sausage 4 days a week for breakfast rotated with oatmeal & raisins the other
3 days.

"Bryan" wrote in message
news
"During my last, very rare visits to a doctor several years ago he
scheduled
me for one of those [colonoscopy]. I still haven't shown up for it."
-- anonymous unless he who said it wants credit

This ng seems to have a lot of over 40 members.
If you want a few more years of boating, and someone has told you to get a
colonoscopy, swallow your pride, set your concerns for dignity aside, and
het 'er done!
Early detection is what makes colon cancer curable!
Just remember to bring wine and flowers (chocolates not necessary) to the
appointment.

That's my last pubic service message. There won't be any others.