PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE get a colonoscopy! Like others have said, a day of some unpleasantness is much better than what I went through! I didn't have insurance when I was 50-55. So I didn't get a colonoscopy! At the time, any excuse would do like others have said here. But it would have cost me a lot of money.
Finally, I was able to get covered through Obamacare. I had been having some bathroom problems that I had never had before, so I scheduled my colonoscopy. The results of my colonoscopy was Stage 4 rectal cancer. with many lymph nodes involved!! I went through weeks of pill form chemotherapy. They pills caused many bad side effects. Then I went through a few weeks of daily radiation. After a couple of weeks, I was having some side effects from the radiation that I can't post here. Trust me guys, it wasn't good. But, after the pill form chemotherapy and the radiation, I had another colonoscopy. This time my cancerous tumor was GONE! I was elated until I met with my doctor. Hea said that while the tumor was gone, there wasn't a way to see if the problem with the lymph nodes was still there. He said I could skip the surgery, or be completely sure, and still have the surgery. His advice was to still have the surgery.
I had the surgery which he hoped could be done arthroscopically, with 3 small incisions. After starting the surgery, he realized that would be impossible, and that it would have to be done the old fashioned way. When I woke up in the hospital room, I had an 11 inch incision, about 50 staples used to close it, and an ostomy bag! I was in the hospital for 9 days. I went home and spent about 4 months recovering from the surgery. After recovering, I spent the next 4 months getting biweekly IV Chemotherapy. This is basically putting poison in your body to kill any remaining cancer cells. I would go in and it would take 3-4 hours to get the procedure. The side effects of this was really weird. I couldn't drink anything with ice in it, if it wasn't room temperature, it would burn like fire. I couldn't handle anything out of my freezer without gloves on, again, it would feel like it was burning. At times, I would fill my bag up with blood, or if I wasn't wearing it, squirt blood out of the hole in my gut! After the IV Chemotherapy was done, I was able to have my ostomy bag reversed. Then they checked, and my cancer was gone!
That is when my troubles started. About a year after having my radiation treatments, I had SEVERE lower back pain! They found out that the radiation treatments had caused my sacrum bone to become brittle, and it had cracked!! In case you don't know, the sacrum bone is at the base of your spine. Every time you sit down or lay down it is effected. It also is very porous with many nerves going through it! The cracks had broken a lot of nerves. I had to get a Sacroplasty, which is like putting caulk in my sacrum bone to fill the cracks and stabilize it. To shorten this story a bit, I will hit the high points now. In 2017, I spent 5 months in a hospital or rehab center, I lost 135 pounds from beginning to end of my ordeal, my insurance was billed over $600,000 and I had to pay my share, my muscles will never be the same again, I had to learn to walk again, because of the nerve damage, I still have plumbing issues, and had to go on disability. That was tough after working, which I enjoyed, since college.
BUT, I AM STILL CANCER FREE!! I had a CT Scan today, and it showed no cancer present! That is 5 years without cancer. Now, instead of getting a colonoscopy every 6 months, I will be able to space it out further, maybe 3-5 years. I will find out when I go back to my Oncologist next week.
Now, if you read all of this, I have one question: WOULD YOU RATHER GO THROUGH A COLONOSCOPY, OR GO THROUGH WHAT I DID?
Larry
They wheeled you lot out "imto the morning sun"?
