SCREEN TOGETHER. LIVE TOGETHER

Earlier this month instead of co-anchoring the news with Mike Walter, I was playing chauffeur to my husband Mike and my mother Ethel. Beginning at 6:30 A-M, they were scheduled, back to back, for colonoscopies with our favorite gastroenterologist Dr. John O'Connor at the White Flint Surgery on Shady Grove Road in Rockville. Because both would be given anesthesia, I had to be the designated driver for the day.
This was a routine follow-up for my mother, but for my husband this was his first colonsocopy. He always made time to take me to my exams, but I could never get him to schedule his own test. Not even my assurance that he would get a 15-minute nap worked. He was just too busy. Sound familiar? That was my own excuse for being two months late scheduling my mammogram. And I know it's probably the same for most of you. We are all just too busy. And besides, there's no family history of colorectal cancer in either family and Michael's previous fecal occult blood tests were all negative. So, nothing to really worry about, right?.
Not quite. What finally made my husband put his health first was a call from his brother. He learned a big brother had been diagnosed with colon cancer and would soon undergo surgery. And this is the brother the siblings all agreed was the most fit of the 4-boys. Most people delay their colonscopy because they don't want to endure the cleansing preparation. But that's a minor annoyance compared to cancer surgery and chemotherapy.
Colorectal cancer is Preventable, Treatable, and Beatable if you follow the screening guidelines.
Screening does more than find colon cancer at an early stage when it is most curable - it actually can prevent it from ever occurring by finding and removing the polyps that, left alone, can develop into cancer.
People without special risks should begin screening at age 50. However, new guidelines urge African-Americans to begin screening at age 45. Under the old & new rules, my husband & his brother were both long over do for their tests.
Lifestyle changes can also reduce the risk of colorectal cancer. Maintaining normal weight, exercising, not smoking, and eating less red meat make colorectal cancer less likely but this doesn't replace screening.
Found at an early stage, colorectal cancer is 90% curable with surgery alone.
New chemotherapy treatments given after surgery for larger cancers and cancer that has spread to nearby lymph nodes have increased the percentage of patients whose cancer will not return.
Although the percentage of people who have had a colorectal cancer screening test is still abysmally low, it is slowly increasing. Awareness is growing. Colon cancer, once an unspeakable secret, gets talked about more and more.The talk leads to action and that action leads to Preventing, Treating & Beating colon cancer. Don't wait until someone you loved is diagnosed before you get screened.
At this season of giving, think of a colonsocopy as the best present you can give yourself.
I'd love to hear from you; share your experiences. Something you say or do may help another Buddy