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Notes on My Colon Cancer

charlieharrington.com

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Re: Notes on My Colon Cancer

#151

Post by a9h74j »

thaumasiotes wrote: post #107
dbcurtis wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Plus if you’re awake you can actually watch the scope going, it’s cool! Not painful at all. For sure! My first colonoscopy I was sedated and enjoyed watching the screen. In fact, I remember I was making HILARIOUS jokes the entire time. I could not remember them afterwards though. My second colonoscopy my doctor sedated me again, but put me further under for reasons that remain a mystery. Also, a year ago we buried…

> In fact, I remember I was making HILARIOUS jokes the entire time. I could not remember them afterwards though. This is the primary purpose of the "sedative". I had samples taken from the interior of my stomach via a machine that went down my throat. It was an intensely unpleasant experience; you're trying to vomit for most of the time the cable is there. Anesthesia was not even recommended, but they really wanted m…

The philosopher Stanley Cavell asked in one book if it was OK to torture someone who was given drugs to completely forget the experience.

Aside from potential lasting effects from trauma remembered or not, and so on, I always thought: It would still change the doctors.

Re: Notes on My Colon Cancer

#152

Post by eecc »

cameldrv wrote: post #73
graeme wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Recommend anyone considering this to ask your doctor about using a sedative instead of general anesthesias. As best I can tell general anesthesia for colonoscopy for low risk appears to be a cultural custom especially prevalent in the northeastern USA. Anesthesia has many more possible side effects than sedatives and ought to be avoided unless needed (this applies to any unneeded treatment). Plus if you’re awake you…

Second this. There is evidence that anesthesia causes brain damage. This shows up in the data most for babies and small children, and the elderly, where you can see it on IQ tests and chance of dementia. It's more pronounced with multiple surgeries. It may be that it's damaging everyone's brains, but it's just not as noticeable for adults. One study with twins showed about a 1.5 point IQ loss from a major surgery. Of…

Oh yes... I remember the aftermath of getting emergency surgery for an appendicectomy: after breezing through a major Calculus exam before that, I struggled for months waiting for the cloud of confusion and forgetfulness to lift. And to this day I’m not sure it ever did

Re: Notes on My Colon Cancer

#153

Post by kypro »

makach wrote: post #116

God damn it! I get upset when reading this article! The doctor mentioned at the beginning of the article is obviously not doing his job! "Don't worry about it?!" "you don't need another physical exam!?" Making assumptions without examination is incredibly unprofessional and carries with it potential critical consequences. If you have an issue and bring it to your doctor and your doctor fails to follow up with an exam…

This happened to someone I know recently. She was a little younger than OP and repeatedly told her doctor how she had symptoms which could potentially be colon cancer but she was repeatedly told not to worry as she was too young and it was probably just haemorrhoids.

This went on for about a year I believe. Things got worse and when test were done she found out she had stage 4 cancer and probably only had a few months to live.

If you have symptoms which could be cancer regardless of your age insist you have the right tests done to rule it out. Most cancer is very preventable in its early stages.

Re: Notes on My Colon Cancer

#154

Post by hzay »

thornjm wrote: post #139
hzay wrote: post #122

Great article. My father had a colonoscopy for a polyp (luckily non-cancerous). We were extremely worried, and it was so sudden that I couldn't read up on it. Does anyone have recommended reading for basic cancer knowledge? I'm 32, know nothing, no family history of cancer AFAIK, but I have a large family and I want to start preparing and getting information. Thanks in advance!

It's a tough read without much prior knowledge but the seminal work is: Hallmarks of Cancer by Hanahan and Weinberg (I think this is an updated version: [1]). It introduces the fundamental features of all cancers. Every cancer ends up with pretty much all of these traits because of strong survivorship bias. Those that don't develop these traits die off. [1] https://www.cell.com/fulltext/S0092-8674(11)00127-9

That's great, just what I was looking for! Thank you.

Re: Notes on My Colon Cancer

#155

Post by hef19898 »

elric wrote: post #143

You can also get "fecal occult blood tests". Which has nothing to do with the devil, but it's a test which can detect blood hidden in your poo. There are at home test kits. These are as simple to use as dabbing a stick in a turd a couple of times and waiting for the result. Similar to a home pregnancy test. Our local bowel cancer charity recommends these. If positive, get a colo(no)scopy. If negative, retest in anoth…

> They're also recommended to anyone who is younger and possibly at risk.

This! If you have cases in your family, genetical disposition or not, get them as soon as possible. My doctor recommended at least 10 years before the earliest case in your family, which would put my kids at 18. Missing a cancer diagnosis early on is probaly the worst thing you will regret in your life.

Re: Notes on My Colon Cancer

#156

Post by hef19898 »

thaumasiotes wrote: post #107
dbcurtis wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Plus if you’re awake you can actually watch the scope going, it’s cool! Not painful at all. For sure! My first colonoscopy I was sedated and enjoyed watching the screen. In fact, I remember I was making HILARIOUS jokes the entire time. I could not remember them afterwards though. My second colonoscopy my doctor sedated me again, but put me further under for reasons that remain a mystery. Also, a year ago we buried…

> In fact, I remember I was making HILARIOUS jokes the entire time. I could not remember them afterwards though. This is the primary purpose of the "sedative". I had samples taken from the interior of my stomach via a machine that went down my throat. It was an intensely unpleasant experience; you're trying to vomit for most of the time the cable is there. Anesthesia was not even recommended, but they really wanted m…

Colonoscopies are much more pleasent that having a probe sent to your stomach. Going up from behind, you are sedated, for the stomach you have to stay awake to "swallow" the probe. ut hey, I guess it still beats surgery, chemo therapy and potential fatal cancer down the road.

Re: Notes on My Colon Cancer

#157

Post by youngtaff »

jsmith99 wrote: post #149
graeme wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Recommend anyone considering this to ask your doctor about using a sedative instead of general anesthesias. As best I can tell general anesthesia for colonoscopy for low risk appears to be a cultural custom especially prevalent in the northeastern USA. Anesthesia has many more possible side effects than sedatives and ought to be avoided unless needed (this applies to any unneeded treatment). Plus if you’re awake you…

I have ulcerative colitis so have had many many colonoscopies. General anaesthetic is never used in UK but twilight sedation is normal. I refuse this as (after an unpleasant gastroscopy) I can't stand having tubes stuck up my orifices while I'm unable to fully intellectualise what's happening. They're usually happy to give a bit of fentanyl instead. My experience is that GI doctors enjoy chatting during the procedure…

Had Fentanyl for both mine…

Colonoscopy was generally OK, and it's quite interesting to see both what your insides look like, and the radar image of the path the scope takes.

The prep the day before is the worst bit IMV

Re: Notes on My Colon Cancer

#158

Post by hef19898 »

ridgeguy wrote: post #56
stevecalifornia wrote: post #5

Fellow readers: Do not be afraid of a colonoscopy. Do not avoid it-- in fact, look forward to it. They are easy and painless. Waking up from the anesthesia I felt more relaxed than I ever have in my life. Also, the prep of clearing your system will reset your digestive system and you'll feel like a new person. I think the prep cleared out whatever it was that was causing us to investigate my digestive system in the f…

I'll second the "do not be afraid". At my first, I was offered the option of minimal sedation, which I took. Then my doc offered to put up an extra monitor so I could take the tour, as it were. It was fascinating. By now, I've had 9 colonoscopies. My brother had colon cancer, hence the maybe higher frequency than usual. They've all been either non-events or pretty interesting. If you have any symptoms at all, get the…

If in doubt, take it. better be safe than sorry, especailly since colon cancer usually takes time to became really bad and can be treated rather easily when caught early. Also agree that 50 is too late. Case in point, I had colon cancer when I was 28. Turned out well, but 6 months of chemo therapy is nothing I want to repeat, and I had the easy therapy.

Re: Notes on My Colon Cancer

#159

Post by hef19898 »

mNovak wrote: post #94
mtalantikite wrote: post #20

I’ve read that there are some emerging theories of a bacterial component of colon cancer, which I find interesting [1][2][3]. A friend, also in his 30s, recently was diagnosed with colon cancer and it seems like doctors are really noticing an increase in colon cancer among a younger population. It just seems so young to be dealing with it. Regardless, I’m glad the author is recovering and found it early enough! [1] h…

My fiance was diagnosed in her 20s. Still relatively rare at that age, but the doctors noted there's significant increases in prevalence in young people.

Same here, I was 28. Started to wonder if that could be connected to Tchernobyl, I was in Kindergarten back then. Since t didn't change a thing for me, I never looked for studies around this, so.

Re: Notes on My Colon Cancer

#160

Post by hef19898 »

elihu wrote: post #130
makach wrote: post #116

God damn it! I get upset when reading this article! The doctor mentioned at the beginning of the article is obviously not doing his job! "Don't worry about it?!" "you don't need another physical exam!?" Making assumptions without examination is incredibly unprofessional and carries with it potential critical consequences. If you have an issue and bring it to your doctor and your doctor fails to follow up with an exam…

Yep, I was in almost exactly that situation and the doctor said something along the lines of "it's almost always a hemorrhoid, but we'd better schedule you for a colonoscopy just to make sure" and sure enough there was a tumor that wasn't cancerous yet, but could very well have become so and killed me in a few years if nothing had been done. (It runs in the family apparently; my grandmother on my mom's side was from…

Thank gd that caught in time in your case. I was beyond the not-yet-cancerous stage when I had the "better have good look now"colonoscopy. Still early enough to still be around, so!
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