<p>A friend was just diagnosed yesterday…and is scheduling surgery for next week. She’s always been super athletic/fit–runs 4 days a week, teaches fitness/swimming classes; super healthy diet (non meat eater); no family history. All are shocked; she has a HS senior. And now she’s kicking herself that she didn’t get a colonoscopy at 50—she’s 52.</p>
<p>If you’ve been putting it off…schedule it NOW–if not for you, for your family…</p>
<p>^^ Absolutely – don’t be scared of this relatively simple procedure.</p>
<p>I just attended the funeral of a very dear friend of over 35 years. She was diagnosed with stage IV colon cancer about 6 months after she retired at age 56. Although her mother died of colon cancer, my friend was never checked herself until then, when it was too late. She battled the disease for 8 years (was on chemo the entire time) but finally succumbed last month. She left behind a husband, two daughters and a granddaughter – and her 92-year-old father who has now lost his wife and only child to the ravages of this disease. </p>
<p>Please don’t put off this life-saving test.</p>
<p>Had this procedure done by a beautiful young Indian doctor. What I really liked was that she was so enthusiastic about her job–she said it is really gratifying because she knows she is saving lives. Her sense of the dignity and usefulness of this procedure was very helpful–and it wasn’t so bad.</p>
<p>To anyone who is putting this off because you dread the procedure and/or the prep, think about this: I waited to have my first colonoscopy at 52 and since they found a large flat polyp that keeps recurring, I’ve now had to have six procedures in the past 17 months and will have another in 3 months. The earlier you do it, the less likely you’ll have to repeat it. </p>
<p>My other tip to you is that if your doctor finds a large flat polyp, you shouldn’t let them biopsy it, cut it out, burn it out or even tattoo it as all of those can cause scar tissue. There is a fairly new and sophisticated removal method called Endoscopic Mucosal Resection (EMR) that can remove even very large polyps that would normally require surgery but it can’t be done if there is scar tissue. Talk to your doctor about this before your colonoscopy.</p>
<p>I feel compelled to add my personal experience to this discussion. Several years ago, when I was in my early 40s, I had some symptoms indicating the possibility of colon cancer and my doctor scheduled a sigmoidoscopy. It was a painful and frustrating experience as nothing was found. Symptoms slowly got worse over time, and a couple of years later my doctor did order a colonoscopy, which resulted in a diagnosis of Stage II colon cancer (in a part of the colon the sigmoidoscopy does not reach), a colon resection, and recommended chemotherapy. I underwent the chemotherapy (which almost killed me), and I think it aged me about 10 years, and I just wonder whether it would have been recommended if I had been diagnosed the first time, i.e., if I had a colonoscopy the first time. Even though I appear to be cancer free now 7 years after my operation, I still wonder how much higher my odds are of recurrence because of the delay, because of the initial use of the sigmoidoscopy instead of the colonoscopy, and how much my health and quality of life for the balance of my life have been damaged by the chemotherapy.</p>
<p>Thank you for sharing, austinreadad – your post made me get the gumption to take better care of myself. </p>
<p>I’ve had quite a few colonoscopies. My dear aunt died of colon cancer about ten years ago and so my dad went in for one and he had a large “angry” (doc’s word) polyp found. So I went and had one at age 42 and low and behold they found three tiny polyps. Since then I go back every three years. Nothing found since except on my last one in fall of 2009 when two more were found - one fairly big. I was supposed to go back for another colonoscopy six months later but our life has been complicated – a major relocation to new state, schools, jobs, etc. This thread has been good for me to read – will call today to schedule.</p>
<p>It’s such a long thread I haven’t read it all but am wondering if any on here also have a really, really hard time with the prep. I inevitably end up on the floor of the bathroom just retching my guts out. Doctors have tried all kinds of different concoctions. I absolutely hate the prep – the rest is no big deal.</p>
<p>^^ I wretched my guts out last time but not the time before that. It wasn’t very enjoyable but leagues better than watching someone die of colon cancer or getting it myself. In the scheme of things it was a few minutes of misery for what can be a huge gain. I don’t know why it hit me harder the second time - it was the same solution. For the next one I’ll just bear my way through it (and hopefully it’ll be more like the previous one I did) since the alternative to doing the procedure can be far worse.</p>
<p>I also had a hard time with the prep. When I told the nurse I’d vomited violently three times she said it was no problem, as long as I finished drinking the vile fluid. THis doesn’t make a lot of sense to me. Couldn’t I have “quit while I was ahead”? (I weigh less than 110 pounds; does that count for anything?)</p>
<p>I have read (perhaps on this thread, even?) that some doctors offer a pill instead of a beverage. Maybe that would work?</p>
<p>My only problem was that it was the most monotonous and tedious thing I’d ever had to do in my life. I was completely clear almost immediately but they told me I had to keep drinking until I’d at least done 3/4 of the jug. It didn’t taste terrible but I have really active gag reflexes and can’t just chug a glass down all at once, so I probably spent seven hours just sitting in the bathroom trying to choke it down. Had I not been expecting hours of hell and damnation I would not have barricaded myself in there, there was no reason I couldn’t have gone about my normal evening routine. </p>
<p>Weirdly there are a lot of blogs about different types of preps and ways to make them more bearable. That was what I spent the first four or so hours of my internment reading about.</p>
<p>I was offered the choice of pills or liquid when I had mine done last month. I choose the liquid because the pills were large and you had to take tons of them (I think 12 within a hour and several times throughout the day) and I don’t like swallowing large pills. Pills have a tendency to give me a stomach ache. Have to admit the liquid did get harder and harder to get down as the day progressed.</p>
<p>I’m becoming something of an expert on the prep. I hated the original prescription for Moviprep so for procedure #5, I tried a new concoction called Suprep. It is a box of two little 6 oz. bottles of liquid. You add enough water to make 16 oz. and have to drink it twice, followed by 32 oz. of water each time. It tastes nasty but not as bad as the old stuff and not gritty since it starts as liquid. For me it worked faster and with no pain so I used it again for #6. (How bizarre that I’m even writing this.)</p>
<p>I had one today. My last was five years ago but there’s a history in my family. Prep just isn’t that bad. Mine was clear liquids all day (yesterday), 2 dulcolax tablets at 3. Drink 64 oz of clear liquid with Miralex between 6-9. That’s a lot of liquid but you have three hours to drink it. Then two more dulcolax. No vomiting at all. </p>
<p>Today was quite pleasant. Show up at 7:45 am. Procedure at 8:15. No pain at all. Drugs quite pleasant. Husband and I were having breakfast at 9:00. You just need to find the right doctor to do it. I suggest referrals.</p>
<p>^^ Just had a chuckle at your username after reading that… ;)</p>
<p>I used the suprep. I told my husband that it tasted like the bathrooms at the skeevy rest stops on the Indiana toll road smell. Last week I was back on the toll road and I started gagging when I walked into the bathroom. Deja vu all over again.</p>
<p>I made the consult appointment with a GI doctor today so I can have one. This thread did push me to make the call. Re the pills – can they be cut in half with a pillcutter? I know I can’t use the same prep as I did last time and so I’m hoping for the pills.</p>
<p>Good for you mimk6 - I’m on something of a mission about this. My brother just called me yesterday to say he’d scheduled his too and I was really pleased to hear it. 1moremom, try pinching your nose when you drink it next time. I feel silly doing it but it helps.</p>
<p>I wonder why some docs do the pill approach, and others say no. I was given Nulytely with a choice of (nasty) flavors. I’d much rather take some pills – even if they are large and there are a lot of them. </p>
<p>Oh well, I’ve got four years before I need the next one; I hope the prep gets easier. I found the actual procedure to be a non-issue. Next time I’m going for one of the late afternoon appointments – do the prep in the morning, procedure in the late afternoon, and go home and sleep.</p>
<p>I had trilyte (I think that’s what it’s called?) and I put it in plastic cups with saran wrap over the top and a straw poked through-- read about that in one of the blogs about how to make prep easier. lol. Eventually I got tired of holding my nose and that helped. I also used mouthwash after every glass, that helped, too. Midway through when it got really hard, with my doctors permission I would sip chicken broth in between a few gulps of prep to help get the taste out. There are lots and lots of little tricks to try.</p>
<p>The problem with a late afternoon appointment is that you can’t have any coffee or tea in the morning, and if you’re addicted to the stuff–as I am–that means you have a TERRIBLE headache by your 5 o’clock appointment. Other than that, the late afternoon appointment thing wasn’t that bad an idea. Well, that and being ridiculously hungry all day. Next time (when I turn 60 in five more years), I’ll go for an early morning appointment. I’m sure that has its problems too, so when I turn 70, I’ll go for the appt at noon ;-)</p>