Wellness

[BalletBabe]

@Nightowlz  I am with you .  No way they are giving me that test.  They have a new test out now where you go in a box and have UPS pick it up.   I told them they are nuts if they think I am doing that!  

Picture this:  Calling UPS and telling them you have a pile of Krap for them to pickup!   LOL

[BalletBabe]

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@Nightowlz wrote:

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@SeaMaiden wrote:

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@Kachina624 wrote:

@Nightowlz  You really should make the effort to have the test.  I first had polyps removed over 20 years ago, and frequently since then.  I could easily be dead now without the colonoscopy.  There may be an alternate method of cleansing for people like you.  The stuff I drink really isn't that bad if it's chilled and I flavor it with lemon or lime.  It saves many, many lives. 

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@Kachina624 @Nightowlz  I also am so glad I had mine....they removed two large polyps.  I was one one those who said I would never drink that stuff or have a colonoscopy. It was an inconvenience for me....well, sometimes in life you just put on your big girl pantys and be inconvenienced.  IT SAVES LIVES.  My husband has 13 polyps removed! Thank god we both had the procedure done!

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@SeaMaiden @Kachina624 I know I need one since I should have had it done at age 50. I'm such a big chicken when it has anything to do with needles. They can never get it in the vein. I always end up all black & blue & look like a drug addict when they get finished.

I also need to have my gallbladder removed, see my ob/gyn etc. It's all adding up with so many tests to do.

Dh is going thru tests right now so I'm not doing anything until I find out what's going on with him. I'm just so stressed out right now. Had to fight with him to get him to go. He's just as stubborn as I am. He does not want to follow up & I told him he has no choice that he needs to find out what's going on & was not going to find out without the tests the doctor wants. They want an abdominal ct scan now.

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I just found out recently that only 3% of polyps turn malignant.  I think it is a racket myself.  

[Auntiemay]

Cologuard testing is recommended only if you have no risk factors for colon cancer. 

Speak with a Dr. and make a an educated decision! I am an RN. Good luck. 

[PINKdogWOOD]

@Auntiemay, @Nightowlz, @BalletBabe

Your comments make folks like me just GASP.  To think and say a colonoscopy is 'a racket' is absurd. To actually poop in a bag and then schedule a pick up by UPS is insane.  To not actually care that much about yourself and your health is ludicrous.

What you mix your Miralax in is not at all 'krap'.  The 32oz bottles (2 of them) is called Gatorade. Miralax has NO taste to it, just mix it in Gatorade and drink it down.  Pretty sure you all know what happens next - you head to your bathroom and poop to clear out breakfast, lunch and dinner from the 2 or so previous days.  We all do it, we all poop.  It's a fact of life.  What's so hard about this.  When you get the flu, if you have the stomach one that causes diarrhea, EXACTLY THE SAME THING ladies.

I am or should be the country's spokesperson for having your colonoscopy done.  I am passionate about getting this test done, so many of you here know this of me.

On the flip side I'll also say to you who think this test is so yucky, so unnecessary, such a racket, wait until something goes awry with your health, you finally drag yourself to your Dr who tells you that you have colon cancer or worse yet rectal cancer.  You HAVE TO go under the knife after you do chemo and radiation to hopefully shrink your tumor(s) and wake up to find you now need to poop in an appliance called an ostomy bag for the rest of your life.  This would happen when your surgeon removes not only the cancer but needs to remove enough tissue surrounding to make certain s/he's taken ALL of your cancer. 

This result is now what my husband (and I as his continued caregiver) lives with.  DH had this surgery in July 2011.  We continue to thank our God every single day when we get out of bed every single morning for his/our surgeon making him cancer free.  Took him 22 months but DH is alive and well, still works to this day and is healthy and I'll repeat cancer free.

Please don't bad-mouth me for my post.  Do not tell me this is just gross to read.  Put your big girl pants on and get this life saving test done.  You'll thank yourself (and maybe even think back to this post) after your Dr tells you that those polyps s/he removed are not malignant.

[hckynut]

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Nightowlz wrote: 

My doctor was going over things & asked me if I had a colonoscopy yet. Before I could answer he said are you over 50. I just looked at him & said Seriously. He said well I can go back to the computer to check. I laughed & said I'm 59 & he just looked at me like he did not believe me. I told him I was old enough to be his mommy. LOL!!! 

He asked me if I write? He thinks I'm funny & told me I should write down all my humor.  I said I cannot live without laughter. I guess a lot of my responses to him came with humor.

I lost 7 more lbs since I saw him 6 months ago. He wanted to know why I was complaining about it.

I told him I was not really complaining I was just concerned about what may be wrong with me. I never had an easy time losing weight before. Lost another 1/2 lb since Tues. My scale is always spot on with theirs or off 1 lb. At first I was 2 lbs more then their scale but I was holding my purse.

The nurse told me to set it down. Can't believe my purse weighs 2 lbs. The doctor laughed & said you should see some of the suitcases they carry. I laughed & said I know I don't know what they could need to carry one of those around all day. I have never had a doctor spend as much time with me as he has.

@Nightowlz.  

Always when a patent enjoys a doctors visit. All my doctors spend as much time as I need to get our business done. Yep, I find "dry type" humor, even in serious health issues. Have found it helps more than the "Oh no, or Poor me" when dealing with medical issues.

So!!! Let me hear the important part, eh! Have you had your Colonoscopy? No joke intended with that question. You've probably said in another post, but I don't file answers, only things I might want to remember them.

hckynut(john)

[Nightowlz]

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@BalletBabe wrote:

@Nightowlz  I am with you .  No way they are giving me that test.  They have a new test out now where you go in a box and have UPS pick it up.   I told them they are nuts if they think I am doing that!  

Picture this:  Calling UPS and telling them you have a pile of Krap for them to pickup!   LOL

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@BalletBabe I have seen that commercial on TV. It's funny because it sounds like they say shi+ me to the lab instead of ship me to the lab. We always start laughing when we hear it.

I have also read the equipment they use at some places is not clean when they use it unless they are cleaning it with a certain product. Cannot remember the name of it. There are 2 different products they use & one is expensive & does clean it while the other is less expensive & does not clean it like it should. Wonder what our facility uses. If I call to ask I'm sure they will think I'm crazy. At any rate I imagine I will do it at some point.

[LilacTree]

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@BalletBabe wrote:

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@Nightowlz wrote:

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@SeaMaiden wrote:

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@Kachina624 wrote:

@Nightowlz  You really should make the effort to have the test.  I first had polyps removed over 20 years ago, and frequently since then.  I could easily be dead now without the colonoscopy.  There may be an alternate method of cleansing for people like you.  The stuff I drink really isn't that bad if it's chilled and I flavor it with lemon or lime.  It saves many, many lives. 

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@Kachina624 @Nightowlz  I also am so glad I had mine....they removed two large polyps.  I was one one those who said I would never drink that stuff or have a colonoscopy. It was an inconvenience for me....well, sometimes in life you just put on your big girl pantys and be inconvenienced.  IT SAVES LIVES.  My husband has 13 polyps removed! Thank god we both had the procedure done!

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@SeaMaiden @Kachina624 I know I need one since I should have had it done at age 50. I'm such a big chicken when it has anything to do with needles. They can never get it in the vein. I always end up all black & blue & look like a drug addict when they get finished.

I also need to have my gallbladder removed, see my ob/gyn etc. It's all adding up with so many tests to do.

Dh is going thru tests right now so I'm not doing anything until I find out what's going on with him. I'm just so stressed out right now. Had to fight with him to get him to go. He's just as stubborn as I am. He does not want to follow up & I told him he has no choice that he needs to find out what's going on & was not going to find out without the tests the doctor wants. They want an abdominal ct scan now.

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I just found out recently that only 3% of polyps turn malignant.  I think it is a racket myself.  

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@BalletBabe

Not to be argumentative, but my sister complained for a couple of years about discomfort passing her stools.  I kept urging her to go to a gastro doc and she just kept putting it off.  She had been a 50-year smoker at the time. 

She finally had a colonoscopy and they discovered a polyp the size of a plum.  Testing showed malignancy.  They removed it (after which the doc showed me photo of it which was horrible looking).  She was supposed to see the gastro doc every six months after that and she never did.  She lived with me at the time and I was working full time and would ask her if she had gone to the doc and she lied to me and said yes and that everything was fine. Actually, she never went to any doc after that for anything.

Unfortunately the cancer metastasized to her lungs, which took a long time (almost six years) and she died at the age of 72.  The masses in both lungs were 5 cm each side, which is 2-1/2 inches in width, meaning they had been growing for quite some time as well.

Of course we all knew she was sick, her normally slender frame was becoming skeletal.  It was a tragically unnecessary death (six years ago and I still mourn every day and miss my stubborn sister.

[Lucky Charm]

To those who refuse to do it:

The test itself is nothing.  You are out or close to out, you feel nothing. 

I'd rather do that than a PAP any day! 

I take advantage of the prep and try to eat clean, clean, clean afterwards.  See how long I can go.  (I do believe it messes up your *flora* a bit, not than anyone would notice.)

Why play Russian Roulette with your health? 

But I'm sure you've read here and read and heard from numerous other places just how important it is to get checked.  If you're that against it, whether you think it's too embarrassing, too disgusting, too invasive, or a hoax, then test your fate.

[ID2]

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@BalletBabe wrote:

@Nightowlz  I am with you .  No way they are giving me that test.  They have a new test out now where you go in a box and have UPS pick it up.   I told them they are nuts if they think I am doing that!  

Picture this:  Calling UPS and telling them you have a pile of Krap for them to pickup!   LOL

Seriously?? My doctor gives me this at-home test yearly and once every 10 years I go in for a colonoscopy. I'd much rather take the non-invasive test at home. Mine comes with a mail-in envelope. Nothing to be embarassed about. I just drop it in the mail. Easy.

[Nightowlz]

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@PINKdogWOOD wrote:

@Auntiemay, @Nightowlz, @BalletBabe

Your comments make folks like me just GASP.  To think and say a colonoscopy is 'a racket' is absurd. To actually poop in a bag and then schedule a pick up by UPS is insane.  To not actually care that much about yourself and your health is ludicrous.

What you mix your Miralax in is not at all 'krap'.  The 32oz bottles (2 of them) is called Gatorade. Miralax has NO taste to it, just mix it in Gatorade and drink it down.  Pretty sure you all know what happens next - you head to your bathroom and poop to clear out breakfast, lunch and dinner from the 2 or so previous days.  We all do it, we all poop.  It's a fact of life.  What's so hard about this.  When you get the flu, if you have the stomach one that causes diarrhea, EXACTLY THE SAME THING ladies.

I am or should be the country's spokesperson for having your colonoscopy done.  I am passionate about getting this test done, so many of you here know this of me.

On the flip side I'll also say to you who think this test is so yucky, so unnecessary, such a racket, wait until something goes awry with your health, you finally drag yourself to your Dr who tells you that you have colon cancer or worse yet rectal cancer.  You HAVE TO go under the knife after you do chemo and radiation to hopefully shrink your tumor(s) and wake up to find you now need to poop in an appliance called an ostomy bag for the rest of your life.  This would happen when your surgeon removes not only the cancer but needs to remove enough tissue surrounding to make certain s/he's taken ALL of your cancer. 

This result is now what my husband (and I as his continued caregiver) lives with.  DH had this surgery in July 2011.  We continue to thank our God every single day when we get out of bed every single morning for his/our surgeon making him cancer free.  Took him 22 months but DH is alive and well, still works to this day and is healthy and I'll repeat cancer free.

Please don't bad-mouth me for my post.  Do not tell me this is just gross to read.  Put your big girl pants on and get this life saving test done.  You'll thank yourself (and maybe even think back to this post) after your Dr tells you that those polyps s/he removed are not malignant.

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@PINKdogWOOD 

I'm sorry to hear about your husband having to go thru that. Glad to hear he is healthy & doing ok today.

That's the problem Gatorade. When I drink some of that if I feel dehydrated I can only drink half a bottle at most. No way could I drink 2 - 32 oz bottles. All I drink is water so finding something to drink it in would not be easy. I guess I could use water but doubt I could drink in all in the time you are supposed to drink it. I have used Miralax a couple of times & I put it in a small juice cup with a little water & down it. I do gag  when I do that so drinking 64 oz. I don't see that happening without throwing up.

I imagine at some point I will do it even though I don't want to. It's kind of a wake up call for me trying to find out what's going on with DH. Also my SIL with stage 3 uterine cancer & 2 brothers with blockage in their carotid artery in their neck. DH has not seen a doctor in over 30 yrs. He went several years after we were married because he was having cluster headaches. He saw my regular doctor, ENT, eye, dentist & neurologist. None could find any problems. The neurologist was treating him for migraines since they did not know what cluster headaches were back then. He was never diagnosed with cluster headaches but with research we know that's what he had. They come & go & run there course. He has not had one for years & hope it stays that way. Other then that the only time he saw a doctor was when one of our dogs bit him & I told him he had to go or it was going to get infected. They tried to take our dog but we told them that was not happening. The only reason the dog bit him was because he had an ear infection & DH had to clean his ears like the Vet showed us. I'm sure it did not feel good for the dog. Can't blame him for biting. Guess we should have put a muzzle on him.