Colonoscopy......and vodka and cake!?

HERE is a very well written article which shows how utterly preventable and/or treatable colon cancer is. I urge you to read the article or send it that person you love who's hard nosed about getting a colonoscopy....the paragraph below is worth the whole article, but I hope you read the link:


"Everyone who dies does so because the tumor wasn't detected in the first 25 years of its existence," explains Bert Vogelstein, M.D., a cancer researcher at Johns Hopkins University and one of the leading authorities in the genetic foundations of colorectal cancer. "There's a huge window of opportunity to beat this disease." 

(keep reading, I'm getting to the vodka in my headline!! :-)  Your first colonoscopy will show what you're facing.....they'll find a few polyps or not; depending on your age. From then on, YOU WILL KNOW WHAT YOU ARE NOT GOING TO DIE FROM. (read that again, it's true, and I made it up!)  The younger you are, the less chance of having any or the better chance of cutting them out in time(they do it right there during the procedure, no need for anything more) and having ZERO to worry about!  If there are a few polyps, you'll get another procedure in five years or whatever your gastroenterologist recommends.


The day before isn't fun......but, it can be easier than some of mine were:  Whatever your doctor tells you to take tell him no unless it's Magnesium Citrate.  Read my lips...TELL HIM "NO, NOT THE OTHER JUNK, GIVE ME MAGNESIUM CITRATE."  I've had two other protocols and you don't want them.   This magnesium citrate, refrigerated, doesn't taste bad at all and does the trick.  The day of the procedure is a piece of cake (and you'll be dying for a piece of cake by then, believe me)..you should be put out and then you wake up and ask "when are you doing it?"   And it's done.

I have a very dear friend who had advanced colon cancer when she was only about 46;  ignore the guidelines of having your first colonoscopy at fifty.  My dear buddy, if she'd been real lucky, would have probably had only two years  to live had they not done that test.  I love her, I had dinner with her last night, and we always celebrate her "how ever many years it's been" anniversary.  I distinctly remember celebrating her five year anniversary with Mr. Z.  Little did we know he'd go before she did.   Last night, we celebrated her 7th healthy year since the cancer.  Fabulous.

She'd probably be dead today had she not had symptoms......and, believe me, once you're having symptoms, you're lucky to live much longer than the colonoscopy and subsequent surgeries and radiation/chemo. 

Don't allow yourself to go through what my dear friend did......and don't allow yourself to die early from a perfectly preventable disease.  Please.

It was my friend's birthday last week.......my card's cover says "Some see birthdays as a glass that's half full....others see it as half empty..........."  Inside, it says "Me?  I see room for vodka. Happy Birthday"   She and I toasted her birthday and her health last night...........because of her colonoscopy.
z