I HAVE BEEN DIAGNOSED WITH COLON CANCER PLEASE READ!!! Many of you are already aware but I wanted to pass the word to all. After many years of stomach issues and many months of blood in the stool on Friday August 2nd I went for a Colonoscopy. I awoke to a Gastroenterologist telling me that he had seen a 4 cm tumor in the sigmoid region of the colon and that the lab would do a biopsy to be sure but he has little doubt that the tumor he saw was cancerous. A week ago today the biopsy results came back and he was correct – I have colon cancer. I am an otherwise extremely healthy , athletic, active 52 year old. Colon cancer, as I have since learned, is at the same time the most curable of all cancers and the 2nd most deadly. Almost 100% of all colon cancer tumors begin as a small harmless polyp in the colon that can easily be detected and removed in a colonoscopy. Today just left the surgeon this afternoon and he said generally polyps take 7-10 years to grow to a cancerous tumor. A routine colonoscopy would surely have saved me surgery uncertainty and pain but I resisted the uncomfortable procedure and kept putting it off. I was even scheduled for one two years ago – missed the date- and never rescheduled. So instead today I saw the surgeon and I will go for a full body scan tomorrow to make sure the cancer has not spread to my lungs, liver, or stomach. If it has not then I will see the surgeon next Tuesday and likely have surgery to remove about a foot of my large intestine next Thursday or Friday. They can not stage the cancer until after the surgery other than ruling out stage 4 by the scan. They will biopsy the outside of the intestine during the surgery and from that can tell whether it has spread to the lymph nodes and whether chemo and radiation will be called for. Many of my FB friends are of similar age and I write this post for one reason – don’t be me – get a colonoscopy as soon as you turn 50 – sooner with a family history of cancer. Spouses – annoy the hell out of your significant other until they do so. The 5 year survival rate for colon cancer is 76% for stage 1 and 6% for stage 4. I am optimistic and as a good friend innocently said to me last week – “When have you not been in the top 5% - what’s the problem”. My point in citing those stats is this – would you rather get a timely colonoscopy or recite those stats to your wife (or husband). I appreciate the well wishes that I know will come but if you really want to make me happy share this story on every one of your timelines. Colon cancer is almost 100% curable/preventable with proper screening. As an aside and my current go to joke – All this time I thought I had a bad stomach when in fact I was truly bad - assed DJ
Posted on: Tue, 13 Aug 2013 22:16:16 +0000
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