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 Id 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 laymens 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 twos worth of discomfort, yes, and embarrassment, is a small price to pay for a couple decades of not being dead.
Ive written about my situation as if it was, or had become, a day at the beach. It isnt and it hasnt. 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. Thats 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 Ive 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 aint 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 havent 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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Good for you, and thanks for encouraging folks to have colonoscopies. How frequently were you having them?
My father died of colon cancer, and I have been having a colonoscopy every five years since then. So far no polyps.
I had a friend who died of colon cancer in his 40s. He had been having colonoscopies very frequently because he had lots of polyps. Family history of cancer.
God bless you, Congressman Billybob!
Thank you for posting your experience.
OK - what is “that certain age”? About to turn 45 and don’t want to miss out on the excitement.
Re: Versed - Amen brother.
“The tests for these cancers, especially colon and breast, are obnoxious.”
I can compare the test for colon and prostate cancer from personal experience. A colonoscopy is really low key compared to a prostate biopsy.
Congrats. There are more and more of us cancer survivors every year. I look forward to your FR contributions for many more.
Wonderful news John!
Chemotherapy is no picnic, and it's not perfect, but it is better than it was. Our scientists are continuing to work to make it better. Pray for them.
Great News!
Thank you for reminding us all to get those tests.
Glad to hear the good news, BB, and you are spot on with the admonishment that early detection is key.
I also think I remember our GP telling us that there would be signs in the blood work associated with a physical exam that would indicate the need for a colonoscopy.
Any thoughts there?
Yes, that is the worst part of a colonoscopy.
But drinking that liquid and "cleaning out" my digestive tract was easy, painless, and trivial compared to many many other things that I and most people my age (51) have endured over the years.
Be a good example, guys. You're tough. Skip the complaints, enjoy the break in your routine, and show your family how easy a colonoscopy really is!
One side effect of no Versed is remembering faint clips of conversation between the doctor and the attending nurses as the procedure unfolds. It is amusing, or at least the comments from my doctor were amusing ... the scope is on a long tube which goes all the way around your colon tract, all the way to the location of the appendix (looking at someone, that is up and around the right side of their tummy, across to the descending otherside of the tummy; appendix local is lowewr left, looking at someone). Doctors have various nicknames for the little polyps they encounter during the tunnel view. My doctor calls them 'peekers'.
John, I have recurring bouts with diverticulitis (about every two or three years, I will eat things I shouldn't, and get the stomach ache, bad stomache ache). Because of that, my doctor wants me in for a tunnel view every five years. When I turn seventy, he says the procedure needs to be done every two years, and after eighty, every year.
On a side note, JOhn, are you familiar with 'high colonics'?
Hooah, Billybob! Great news.
Colonel, USAFR
I read it right AFTER my first (and only, for another 10 years!) colonoscopy. Just about DIED laughing - it was so completely spot-on!
Colonel, USAFR
Congratulations! I join you as a long-time survivor. I survived breast cancer in 1994. Since that time I have been cancer-free, and am even a rare-blood donor at this time. Cancer CAN be cured!
Frankly, the worst part of having a colonoscopy is having to drink that crap to clean your system out. The last time I drank it, I upchucked it all. I ended up having to drive to the pharmacy to find a different type. All the time I was praying that what little had stayed in my system, didn't start working before I was able to get back home.
Glad to hear you’re OK!!
Get that PSA test every year, it save me.
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