Turning 50 was no big event for me. Gina organized a big birthday party to celebrate the milestone. I felt like I was still 35.
I went in for my annual physical that year. Along with all the usual tests, my doctor ordered a colonoscopy. Call me naive but I had to go look that one up. All I knew was it involved my colon and a camera! After reading about the process, I put it off and put it off some more. It took over two years for me to get the test scheduled.
All the horror stories are completely wrong. The preparation day was the worst part for me. Without going into all the details, you have to take some time off to be near a bathroom. Since I have a home office, it was not that big of a deal.
The day of the test was a walk in the park. Go into the hospital at 7:45, get into a “fashion gown” (I had visions of Jack Nicholson in Something’s Got To Give), start an IV, and try to relax. At 9:15, they rolled me into a small room. The anesthesiologist injects something into my IV and I went down for the count.
I woke up about 30 minutes later in the recovery room. The good news is that they removed two small polyps that will be sent off for testing and I don’t need to do another one for 5 years.
The test was painless and only took a few hours of my time. I left the hospital at 10:15 and was back in my office answering voicemails by 10:30.
Waiting those 2-plus years could have been a huge mistake! I got lucky. Cancer is not a fun thing to go through and it’s always best to catch it early. Don’t put it off… Just do it!
Photo licensed from iStockPhoto
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