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I have a very lucky brother in law. Maybe 4 years ago, when he was
about 55 and on a vacation in San Francisco, he started crapping blood.
He put up with it for a couple of days while his vacation finished up,
and then went to the doctor for probably the 2nd or 3rd time in his
adult life when he got back to Washington. Colon cancer. Very advanced.
A colonoscopy would have detected the growths in an earlier stage,
perhaps when still benign.

Today, he's still alive. They operated and removed the tumors. He is
lucky because the cancer hadn't spread beyond his intestines. He is
lucky because there is an 80% chance of recurrence with in the first 2
years following these operations, and while his "count" is still above
normal in his blood the doctors can't find any active cancers at this
time.

He isn't so lucky in that, as a result of the operation, he had to make
a choice between
carrying a "bag" or wearing diapers the rest of his life. He went with
the diapers. Sounds like a miserable existence to me, but at least he's
still alive and can put in a day's work in a business that's his sole
joy in life.

Is he happy that he chose the diaper over the bag?


His two slightly younger sisters (one of them my wife) went in for
colonoscopies, and were OK, but they will be watched carefully due to
family history. The Mrs said she didn't want to hog all the fun and
insisted that I get one too, and I was OK as well.

Well, they say to keep things interesting you've got to be willing to
experiment a little.


My doctor and (even my neurologist) always asks everybody over 50 if
they have had a colonoscopy. Colon or intestinal cancer is one of the
easiest deadly conditions to detect and correct at an early stage if
one gets scoped out, and one of the deadly conditions from which one
can easily die if not discovered.


Guys are the worst patients until we're hospitalized. I don't know what it
is about us, but we just don't see the doctor as often as we should. We
could save some serious grief if we'd stop being so macho all the time.
Heresy! I know. Glad to hear your BIL is doing ok.