I went in for my second colonoscopy today, at age 60

[RickHworth]

I am a Black man and considered higherish risk to colon cancer. My physician, of many years, takes no guff and is on the same page as far as extending our time together, if I like it or not.
I was familiar with most of the staff at the endocrine center from ten years prior, a lot of Dad jokes and a nurse with the same name as my granddaughter, a really rare name, and the doctor performing the procedure with the same name as my paternal grandmother, also super rare.
Anyway, no immediate bad news. found a polyp that was successfully removed and sent for biopsy. It was suggested that I set up an appointment with a urologist because a concern of my prostate, my blood sugar was a little high and my blood pressure was elevated. All of which pointed to necessary changes to my diet, high fiber low fat, more veggies, all of which I have been doing for awhile.
So, as I wait for the biopsy results to come in, I strongly suggest if you are over fifty, or even close, get the colonoscopy. I did this on my two vacation days. (because we don't have sick days at my job either)

[twodogsbarking]

1. I wish you the best. A colonoscopy will diagnose conditions other than cancer

so at least you know what you are dealing with. Many people suffer from undetected digestive tract problems.

[Groundhawg]

2. i went in for my first 57

[cilla4progress]

3. The worst part to me

is the prep!

Do they still have you drink a couple gallons of what tastes to me like a combo of sweat, urine, and Gatorade?

😅

Glad it went well for you!

[phylny]

8. My one word of advice for the prep:

Vaseline.

After my first one, I decided I'd never have a raw rear again. I slathered Vaseline there and found it so much easier to deal with...the onslaught of...waste.

[MissB]

10. There.are.pills

I was wheeled in and the technicians asked if I’d taken the pills or the liquid. I was kinda pissed to realize I didn’t need to drink that vile liquid.

Ask for the pills. Dh had his this year- lots of pills but it’s apparently far far better.

[Ms. Toad]

4. My daughter, age 32, will have her 16th this summer,

if i'm counting correctly.

She has a combination of diseases which put her cancer risk high enough that she has had a colonsocopy every year since she turned 18. Her first was at age 4. Her second at age 13.

Fortunately, no cancer so far. I wish the same for you. (And a single polyp probably puts you in good shape. She has a couple of polyps removed every other visit or so.)

I think I'm up for my 3rd next year at 67. (I needed a diagnostic one between the routine screening ones, so #2 came a bit early.)

You're absolutely right, though. Colon cancer is generally easily cured if it is caught early. My brother's wasn't caught until it was Stage IV, when a fix is not so easy.

[cilla4progress]

13. Boy,

Your daughter's been through it!

😢

[Ms. Toad]

14. Yup.

$200,000 a year in medical care since ~ age 18.

She'll likely need a liver transplant someday for PSC, although she seems to be on the slow track for that - the average time to death or transplant at the time of her diagnosis (at age 18) was 10 years. She's nowhere near that yet - which is both good (a transplant is just a different chronic condition, and her disease is likely to return so she'll start the cycle all over again) and bad (she's living with only a semi-functional liver - which makes her exhausted and gives her perpetual brain fog).

She's at the end of the benefit of the biologic she's taking for the IBD she's had since age 4 - so she'll need to start a different one, and she's likely developed IBD-related arthritis.

Definitely been through it. Quite a different life than we anticipated.

[cilla4progress]

19. Oh Ms. Toad...

what an unfair burden for your daughter to bear.

Blessings to her. Holding you both in my heart.

[Ms. Toad]

20. Thanks! n/t

[Doodley]

5. My wife had the same procedure today plus an endoscopy. I can't get over

that you don't get sick days for this, as a Brit in now in America. No wonder Americans die younger, through being expected to work to death.

[CousinIT]

6. Less sodium. Over 50 you have to cut back on that - make reading labels a religion!

Well, it feels that way anyway, for me. Dietary changes are often necessary after 50 or so.

I had my first a few years ago. My Mom had polyps but they removed them each time and she never developed colon cancer. But that put me in the 'high' risk group. The prep utterly sucks but - yea, get the colonoscopy everyone.

Hope you get the all clear. Take care of yourself! You're worth it! (even if stinking employers don't think so - but they're just greedy selfish jerks!)

[BadGimp]

7. Isn't 1 a day enough?

2 seems like a bit much or maybe a fetish.

[Ace Rothstein]

9. They actually recommend getting a colonoscopy at 45 now.

Colon Cancer rates among young people have seen quite a jump.

[FreeState]

11. Yep - and if you have allow risk

You can do an at home test and skip it all together

I had my fist one at age 43. I get one every year do to mutations in a couple genes. At this point it’s just one additional person up my ass a year

[pnwmom]

15. Good advice! And welcome to DU, RickHworth! n/t

[DFW]

16. I had my first one at 51, got one like clockwork every 5 years since, not entirely without incindent

The very first time, I had one polyp, which was benign. Like you, I have to watch blood sugar, although I have low blood pressure, typically 115/70, which is good for someone over 70. Prostate is OK, too, but I have cholesterol issues. In 2011, they told me to go off my blood thinners for ten days before the procedure.

WRONG.

Right afterward, I began to feel dizzy and was having light chest pain. I was rushed to an emergency room in Dallas, where a cardiologist came out and said I was definitely having a heart attack, although he couldn't understand why my blood samples kept saying I wasn't. Finally, about 6 hours later, some enzyme number that was supposed to go up when you have a heart attack actually DID go up. Normal is 300-400, and I went up to 1300. I asked if that was really bad, and the cardiologist laughed. He said I was a mere blip--bad was 9000 or more. They scheduled an angioplasty the next day, and sure enough, my stents had clogged up, causing the heart attack. They cleared them out, and I was good to go.

The cardiologist went ballistic when he heard that I had been told to go off the blood thinners ten days before the colonoscopy. He said that ten days was EXACTLY the amount of time the clogging cells needed to clog up the stents. He gave the colonoscopy people hell for telling people ten days, and I noticed that the next time, the form said five days. At any rate, I have had no incidents since. My last colonoscopy was just recently. The cardiologist in Germany did a thorough exam after the heart attack in 2011, and said there was no damage at all, and he couldn't even detect any damage whatsoever.

[orleans]

18. wowza -- glad you made it thru okay -- how terrible you were given wrong info

sorry, but they should have known better -- i mean, it's their job to know when they're telling people to get off blood thinners for x amt of time.

[LoisB]

17. Thanks for the reminder and good health to you.

[DET]

21. "A concern of my prostate"

I don’t know what that means in the context of a colonoscopy, but please make sure that you see a urologist as soon as possible for a PSA blood test and a manual exam. Black men are at higher risk for prostate cancer, which is curable if caught early.

[RickHworth]

22. already on it

I am fortunate enough to have a very direct physician. She tells me what to do. I follow her directive.
She re-set my dislocated shoulder in a way that, could probably be only scripted in a movie.
The PSA test will be next, complete with imagery.