Posted on 08/16/2010 10:46:29 AM PDT by Congressman Billybob
On 23 April I had a routine colonoscopy, and found out that I had cancer. I knew then I’d have to write this column once I knew the outcome. I had 25 days of chemotherapy, simultaneous with radiation therapy, followed by surgery on 11 August.
The pathology reports came back yesterday. They were, as my surgeon said, ‘the best possible, given the circumstances.” They were clean margins and clean lymph nodes. The margins are the areas all around the site of the surgery. The lymph nodes are where cancer usually spreads first, from its original site.
In laymen’s terms, I am cancer-free. Going in my purpose for this column was, and still is, to save some lives. Three of the most common cancers in America today are colon and prostate cancer for men and breast cancer for women. All three have a common characteristic. They can be often and easily cured if they are detected early.
Let me repeat that, and pardon me for shouting, but THESE CANCERS CAN BE EASILY CURED IF THEY ARE DETECTED EARLY.
What stands in the way of early detection? The tests for these cancers, especially colon and breast, are obnoxious. Everyone winces and shudders when the tests are mentioned. I know.
I felt the same way when a routine examination with no symptoms showing, saved me from colon cancer once before. That one was only pre-cancerous. But it would have developed to the point of killing me years ago, if I had let it go.
After one time at the rodeo, you get cautious. I got routine exams on a routine basis. The readers of my columns are, I know, older and better educated than most. Many of you are woman or men “of a certain age.” Or, you may have risk factors for cancer in your personal or family history.
If there is any reason in your age or risk factors why you should have a routine exam for any of these cancers, set this column aside and make the call. A day or two’s worth of discomfort, yes, and embarrassment, is a small price to pay for a couple decades of not being dead.
I’ve written about my situation as if it was, or had become, a day at the beach. It isn’t and it hasn’t. Chemotherapy and radiation both tear up your systems. When my father died of cancer, forty years ago, both of those treatments were crude, in their infancy, and nearly as harmful as the cancer itself. Today, the reverse is true. Both treatments have been refined, and are used together to shrink the cancer in advance of surgery. That’s exactly what happened in my case.
With the good news I got yesterday, I ought to be in a good mood. Well, there is this gastric tube down my nose that is continuously draining my stomach. That is to compensate for the fact that my colon has not fully awakened from its slumber. And, did I mention that I’ve given up all pain killers to aid in that process?
Try being stitched up down your front like a baseball. Add to that your must cough to clear your lungs, to avoid pneumonia. Then add that I have refused any pain shots. Since 11 August I have eaten nothing but ice, and two cups of apple juice. Life ain’t easy for a boy named Sue.
I am not, however, complaining. As Maurice Chevalier said of old age. “It is fine, considering the alternative.” The alternative is what I came to talk with you about, today. There are people reading this right now, whose lives can be saved, if you get an exam right now.
Let me repeat that, YOUR LIFE MIGHT BE SAVED IF YOU GET A CANCER TEST TODAY.
I expect and hope that about five people will have their lives saved by my relating my experiences in this column. And, yes, the title of this column was a deliberate pun. If this works for you, please let me know.
Note that I haven’t mentioned my doctors or nurses. There were nine doctors, and many more nurses. I am grateful for the excellence of their medical care.
Changing subjects abruptly, part of the goal of my surgery was to be ready on 12 September to March down Constitution Avenue with 38 of my fellow citizens, dressed as the signers of the Constitution. I get to be Ben Franklin. There should be about a million Americans there. I hope the American press might even notice and cover that event.
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About the Author: John Armor practiced before the Supreme Court for 33 years. John_Armor@aya,yale.edu His latest book, now in print, is on Thomas Paine. www.TheseAreTheTimes.us
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My prescription is in the other room.
But it is a quart (not the gallon anymore) of Lemon-Lime Sea Salt tasting stuff.
And if you follow the diet to a T (which you must/why wouldn’t you) you get to swallow 2 pills to finish the cleansing instead of more Lemon-Lime sea salt tasting stuff.
LOL Your Doc gives you the souveneer pics too?!
That is my favorite part looking up my....
Or as I tell the doc I’m not such big A**hole after all.
yes, I am a perfect a...hole and I have the pictures to prove it. ;)
Hard to lose any life yet harder when it comes too early in life........he was a favorite of mine. Always polite and educational and as good a listener as he was a speaker.
May God help his friends and family celebrate Johns life and continue his efforts to keep our nation free and strong.
I will miss John Armors wisdom he shared with us here . I declare lucky, the ones who knew him personally.
My Opinion........Stay Safe !
Just damn
Agree..........
Where is the young person who will take up the mantle and continue the work of preserving the Founders' ideas?
Honor John's memory by delving into the Founders' writings, as he did, and passing their ideas on to future generations.
Never take life for granted.
RIP John.
Godspeed brother.
RIP
RIP
RE: “This was my 3rd one, 5 years apart. They have never found anything (thank You God) but I have family history of colon cancer. My neighbor is younger than I and has to have one every year and they have always find polyps but never cancer. I hope Obamacare lets us have these test often enough to prevent cancer from developing”
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Yes, everyone has different circumstances re the colonoscopy — my late father had a couple of seed-sized polyps when tested in his early seventies. So, he went every year for a couple more years and then said ‘forget it.’ There was no family history of anything and he died at 82 of different issues.
I had no polyps so they told me ‘10 years.’ Maybe by 2013 the whole test will be pills and water. As for Obamacare, I hope the whole mess has been repealed somehow before our medical system, flawed though it is, is destroyed.
Goodbye FRiend. I have learned so much from you over the years.
Praying for John’s family in their time of grief.
I asked if I could watch, and they moved the monitor so I could see it, and did not sedate me enough to knock me out. She said it actually makes it easier if the patient is awake and cooperative. The closest thing to a “bad moment” was when she had to go “around the corner” from the colon into the beginning of the large intestine. VERY peculiar, but not really painful, just kind of uncomfortable. All clean and good. No polyps, a couple of areas that were different colors from everything else, and so biopsied, but all clear. That was 2 years ago.
My family depends on heart attacks to save us from cancer. It doesn't always work.
You should really consult with your GI specialist. There are good articles on medical tests on WebMd and other websites.
Now, I believe, simple laxarives like Dulcolax, and Gatorade mixed with a powder are used, and are quite tolerable.
The test is done under a very short acting anaesthetic, and you are fully awake half an hour after you start.
Please don’t be afraid. It is a really nothing test, just a little inconvenient. IT CAN SAVE YOUR LIFE!
RE: “You should really consult with your GI specialist. There are good articles on medical tests on WebMd and other websites.
Now, I believe, simple laxarives like Dulcolax, and Gatorade mixed with a powder are used, and are quite tolerable.
The test is done under a very short acting anaesthetic, and you are fully awake half an hour after you start.
Please don’t be afraid. It is a really nothing test, just a little inconvenient. IT CAN SAVE YOUR LIFE!”
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Thanks, but maybe I was not clear — I HAD a colonoscopy in ‘03, had no polyps, and was told to come back for another in 10 years. That would be 2013. I don’t mind doing that but was interested in how the prep has changed over time. I loved the anesthetic I got — “Versed.” Wish I had that at home!
The test itself was a big nothing to me — the prep was annoying but other than gagging on the phosphosoda, it was fine.
I’m glad to hear yur test was negative. Mine was too.
When you have to go back for a repeat, no more phospho, just Gatorade & Dulcolax. They may very well have new prep methods by then. They are always evolving and improving, making for better patient comfort.
Rest In Peace Congressman BillyBob
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