Posted on 02/23/2012 8:25:39 PM PST by nickcarraway
A local colon cancer survivor says she's living proof
Dental assistant Tonya Brinson is a colon cancer survivor.
Brinson was diagnosed in 2007 when she was only 41 and when her son was a young boy. She called a specialist when she started bleeding.
“Within a week of that time, he set me up with a colonoscopy, and thank God he did that," Brinson said. "He saved my life.”
A study in The New England Journal of Medicine presented hard evidence that colonoscopies prevent death. The test gives a doctor the ability to see the colon and remove any suspicious growths.
“This study shows, by removing polyps, these precancerous growths in the colon, that doing a colonoscopy actually reduces colon cancer deaths by 53 percent, and this is really a big deal,” said Dr. Brain Dooreck, chief of gastroenterology at Memorial Regional Hospital South.
Only 60 percent of people who should be screened actually have a colonoscopy.
The new Affordable Care Act should help change that statistic and provide financial incentive for patients to do so.
“This is now a law that states there’s no out of pocket, no copayment, no cost for screening colonoscopy, and this has all changed within the last year to promote screening,” Dooreck said.
Dooreck performed Brinson’s colonoscopy. She had symptoms that other doctors dismissed.
“Dizzy spells, sometimes I had profuse night sweats. I would have heart palpitations, bloating. Sometimes I would have some pain under my rib cage like burning sensation,” Brinson said of her symptoms.
The goal is to do a colonoscopy before there are symptoms. The screening guidelines have changed in the last few years.
“For African-Americans age 45, or age 50 for the general population. Again, if you have a family history or other changes it’s earlier, even at age 40,” said Dooreck.
Brinson was too young to fit into the guidelines and had no family history. For adults under age 50 at no increased risk, the incidence of colon cancer has been increasing yearly since 1998.
You can get more information on screening at www.browardgi.com.
Okay, okay, I’ll go to my appointment. Stop bugging me about it.
Kidding aside, good post.
bookmark
No drug, procedure, or regimen ever SAVED anyone’s life. The best they can do is extend one’s life.
This is a bogus study anyway. It compares the number of deaths to an “estimated” number of deaths that would have occurred without the procedure. Everyone should read the book Worried Sick by Nortin Hadler, MD. We are being conned by all these so-called preventive tests and procedures.
If nothing else, look up what relative risk is, because that is how most of these studies are reported.
The article is half bullshit. Anyone can get a colonscopy. Insurance policies cover it. I know, I’ve had three, with pre-cancerous polyphs removed each time. My copay was around $200 and well worth it. The last procedure was done in the doctor’s office and I walked out after about 1-1/2 hours total.
Obamacare is nothing but a soak the rich/middle class with more taxes to pay for the poor to get something free, which many can get anyway through community health programs. For a doctor to promote it is unethical. It is not an active law now as it is in court over constitutionality issues so why bring it up? A political hack doctor? There are a lot more of them than you would suspect (i.e. the marxist Physicians for a National Healthcare Program, led by Obama’s communist buddy, Dr. Quentin Young and his other Communist Party supporters, Woolhandler and Himmelstein).
I recommend a colonscopy for the ages recommended, regardless of your race or economic condition. Ask your doctor about it and then get it done. (It saved the life of the man in the bed next to me. His polyphs were literally about to break and spread, and he would have been dead soon after).
First I've heard of the above being symptoms.
Follows the age guidelines unless you have reason to be concerned. My SIL had bleeding and waited several months. She's lucky to be alive. She has to use a bag now. If you have bleeding, don't wait. It could be something else, but best to have it checked out ASAP. jmo
“We are being conned by all these so-called preventive tests and procedures.”
As someone diagnosed with colon cancer via a colonoscopy, which otherwise would have metastasized through my body to my lungs, liver, bones, etc., I recommend you learn how important a colonoscopy is.
Colon cancer is the pretty much the only cancer that can be “nipped in the bud”. Getting a colonoscopy every 5 years will almost completely prevent polyps in the colon from turning cancerous.
I recommend you research this a bit more before you run your mouth about something you clearly have no knowledge of.
Go ahead and get your butt pokes. When God wants me to have cancer I’m as good as gone same day.
The butt pokes aren’t the problem...it’s the darned Moviprep.
Where do I begin? Every test has costs and risks and does not benefit everyone. Obviously, I do not know your personal situation, so I can’t comment on that. The books Worried Sick and another, Overdiagnosed, are quite interesting.
The jug of powder you fill with water and drink a glass at a time?
Yep.
I had one or two. I hope to never die!
I’m here today because of a colonoscopy.
heh!! thats quite a cocktail!
don’t venture far from the boys room.
All I really remember was I woke up at the end of the procedure and part of the equipment was still inside. That'll wake you up in the morning.
My wife bugged me for about five years to get one. Finally got one last October. A lot of people say the worst part is drinking a gallon of that mix the night before. To me the worst part was a certain part of your body gets very sore after visiting the bathroom every fifteen minutes. The procedure itself is nothing. They said turn over they're going to start. So I turned on my side. Then it was like a second later I turned on my back, and they told me it was over. I asked them if they meant they were going to start putting me to sleep, they said no, the whole two hour procedure was over. It was like someone told you they were going to operate on you, they tapped you on the shoulder, and then said the whole thing was over. I'm still stunned at how fast it seemed, but I have the pics to prove it happened.
I just can’t tolerate that stuff they make you drink. I gag and throw up and simply can’t get it down. Last time they gave me pills instead, and I only had to drink one glass of the horrible stuff and the rest was water. It was much, MUCH easier and worked just as well.
Also, make sure they give you enough anesthesia to keep you asleep the whole time. I’ve known people who woke up in the middle of their colonoscopy, and it sounds like it was a nightmare! If you do sleep through it, it really is nothing at all. One minute they’re giving you an IV, the next it’s all over.
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