Joho the Blog
An Entry from the Archives

Ha! I've met the crazy TLC gang. They live here in Milwaukee. :)

Be sure to listen to the colonoscopy song! :-)

http://www.streamaudio.com/listen/default_gonew.asp?headertext=&Owner=Cox&station=wplr_fm&PortalFormat=&OptIn=no&streamtype=archiveaudio&filename=caj-2004-09-22-colonoscopy-song.asf

Be sure to listen to the colonoscopy song! :-)

http://www.streamaudio.com/listen/default_gonew.asp?headertext=&Owner=Cox&station=wplr_fm&PortalFormat=&OptIn=no&streamtype=archiveaudio&filename=caj-2004-09-22-colonoscopy-song.asf

Colonoscopy is maybe not as nearly an effective test for colon cancer as advertised. I refer you to Nortin Hadler's book, The Last Well Person. Briefly, the book is a hard look at the medical-industrial complex. Colonoscopy is one among many many technologies that do little if anything to extend life meaningfully. Hadler is a professor of medicine at the University of North Carolina/Chapel Hill, and is but one voice among a growing chorus calling attention to some of the deeper problems with our health care system. As he attributes to a British colleague on the real benefit of colonoscopy: [If we estimate the cost of a colonoscopy at $1000, then] "There's a thousand dollar bill in every American colon. You just have to get up there and find it."

The wife of a very dear friend died a year-and-a-half ago, ultimately of liver cancer that began as colon cancer. My uncle, as they say, "nearly died of embarrassment" while he put off a colonoscopy, despite having some tell-tale symptoms (fortunately, he has made a complete recovery after some harrowing surgery and chemotherapy). This is one of the ways to die that is entirely avoidable by early detection (not to mention a healthful diet). The anticipation of the test is far worse than the test itself, and nowhere what you potentially face not having it!

http://www.okemailfree.com

What fun to read feeds and see people talking about my favorite subject. ;-)

WITY, a colonoscopy is expensive. A colonoscopy is time-consuming. A colonoscopy is gross. My father died of colon cancer in 1999 when he was 57 years old. He was diagnosed with Stage IV disease 9 months before his death. If his doctor had suggested a colonoscopy when my father was 50 years old the man would be bouncing his granddaughters on his knee instead of watching them from a picture on my desk.

Colon cancer is preventable if the disease is caught when the cancer is still a polyp. A colonoscopy is currently the most effective way to do that. Research is being done into prevention and screening methods which are cheaper, less invasive and just as sensitive as colonoscopy. We're not there yet. Until we are there, there is no better option. Not everyone has the means and time to get the test. If you can take the time off from work, if you do have someone to drive you back and forth, if you can handle the icky prep...then get it. Don't bother trying to find excuses and rationalization for not doing it, for whatever is wrong with the test today it may very well save your life. I haven't heard of a single person who had the test, had polyps removed and then said, "I shouldn't have had the test."

Believe me, it only takes watching one person you love waste away and die of this disease to know that the test is far better than the treatment. Colon cancer is 90% curable if caught early, 90% fatal if caught late. Who wants to mess with those odds in order to avoid an icky test? I don't. I owe my kids more than that.

For more, see the linked site. Colorectal Cancer Coalition is an organization devoted to changing the future of colorectal cancer today through advocacy in research, policy and awareness. Yes, I work for the organization...I helped start it and I'd do it as a volunteer if I could.

my sister had a colonopothy done two days ago and the dr tore her colon inside. they told her not to worry but kept her overnight and gave her two different antibiotics to take for seven days. all they could tell her was if she didnt run a fever then dont worry
DONT WORRY!!!!!

Colonoscopy is portrayed as a no hastle, risk free thing that everyone should have after a certain age. Why isn't it made clearer to people what the risks are? Published research puts death rates at around 1/1000 from the procedure (thats death within 30 days due to the procedure. I know lots of sites that are pushing the procedure say 1/10000 plus but check the UK study that showed 12 in 9000 cases followed up through clinical audit died. That puts colonoscopy as 15 times more likely to kill you than doing a rooky parachute jump. IS THAT "VERY SAFE"?.

The other thing is pain. So much is made of those that say they felt no pain. What is not stated is that they were doped with Versed which causes accute memory loss and so would not remember if they had been screaming all the way through. If it didn't hurt why give memory altering sedation at all? My consultant was frank with me (and I have decided not to be scoped because of it). He said it does hurt and has to. If the patient is unconcious or very heavily drugged with pain relief the doctor will not know from patient cries when it gets so bad the risk of injury is too great and they should back off the scope. People should be told that yes after the procedure, if there are no complications, they will remember no pain but at the time they can expect to suffer.

Here is a nightmare from BCBS of NC. I am over 50 and went to have a screening colonoscopy which according to BCBS was covered. What the #$%@# neglected to tell me was that if I have it done in a hospital I walk away with a huge bill because as a "surgical procedure" it goes towards a hospital deductible! If I had done it at a free standing facility I would have just had to pay my Copay! I felt completely ripped off! No rep or a piece of the book told me this. Thanks BCBS!! I did some research on my own and I gound one endoscopic free standing facility and that is Triangle Endoscopy in Durham NC. Run there people!!! DO NOT let BCBS rip you like they did me.