Two Years Ago Today I Got The Bad News

[rsmith6621]

... that I likely had colon cancer during my first colonoscopy.

Two weeks later I had a foot of my colon removed and the healing began. Pathology revealed that the tissue was benign but as close as it gets to being cancer.

Two years later I am doing fine and have been told I dont need another check for five years. This event taught me that I best grab in life what I want and run with it. I have a positive outlook on life and a rolodex that show I have a large political circle of contacts.

[Journeyman]

1. How old were you when you were told? . . .

[liberal_at_heart]

2. Congratulations rsmith6621!

Going for those check ups and screenings can be nerve racking, but they can also save your life. It's about that time of the year for me to go in and get some screenings. A lot of attention is given to the negative on this website, and we should be aware of the world around us because we should fight to make things better. But we should always be grateful for the things we do have and the people that are in our lives. Despite the challenges, life is good.

[durbin]

3. Great news!

Thanks for reminding us of what life is all about.

[postulater]

4. Lucky you.

My father had a colonoscopy. They said he had a polyp and took a biopsy. They said the path report showed cancer so they went back in and took out a foot and a half of his colon. Then they couldn't find the bad spot anywhere. So while drugged in the hospital they told him and my mother they would have to go back in and take out the rest of his colon and he would need a colostomy bag for the rest of his life.

About that time my siblings and I got involved and asked some questions of the surgeon. My parents were scared and confused and intimidated by the surgeon so they didn't know what to ask.

The surgeon said that if they missed it there was no immediate danger and it could come out later.

So we got him an appointment at Mayo Clinic after he healed. A week of testing and reviewing the original biopsy sample and they told him to go back home get tested again in five years.

A year later he had an adhesion from the original surgery. Another surgery to relieve the adhesion.

After each surgery his mental state diminished by about 50% from the anesthesia and the drugs. Within two years he died of dementia.

He never had fucking cancer. And he died early because of the unnecessary surgery and the associated drugs. Asshole doctor.

[Auntie Bush]

8. What a horrible mistake. Now that's grounds for a lawsuit.

Of course it won't make up for your Father's lose of life.

[postulater]

9. It was pretty sad. And frustrating.

I don't wish dementia on anyone.

[Auntie Bush]

13. I know first hand it's a terrible thing. I was my Mon's caregiver

for over 4 years while she suffered from Alzheimer disease. I could fill a book with stories...some funny and most really sad. It's a trying experience...physically and mentally. I guess that goes for both of us.

[Hekate]

14. Same with my mother's heart surgery.

The surgeon talked her into it on the basis of her congestive heart failure. Scared her. She didn't consult with her primary doctor -- probably didn't have time, but also she was a stubborn bull-headed patient so probably figured she had all the info she needed. My youngest brother and I traveled as fast as we could to get to her city, but by the time we got there she was already in the hospital.

When her primary doc found out afterward he said an interesting thing: "Must have been a slow day at the hospital," then clamped his jaws shut and wouldn't say another word about it. But he was angry. Her congestive heart failure was being treated with medication and was not going to kill her or cripple her.

After the fact my sister and I found an article that pointed out this about heart bypass surgery for the elderly: First and foremost, Medicare pays for it. All of it. She couldn't get any help for the rheumatoid arthritis that about killed her with pain, but she got bypass surgery licketysplit. It is a cash cow for hospitals -- or was; we'll have to see how Obamacare influences it in the future.

Second, I was sure the dementia that followed was related to the surgery. She had a classic personality change. She never did like the adult me, but she loved her friends, my younger brother, and her life alone generally. After the surgery she became irrational and paranoid. Wrote of one of her dearest friends "She is stalking me." Became really hateful to me, and told my brother that if he told his sisters what was going on in her life, "She'd stop talking to him, too."

Mentioned it to my own doc, who pooh-poohed my observations. It was a non-doctor who told me I was right.

An old college friend who has a degree in the biological sciences became a drug rep and medical devices rep, and worked closely with another friend of his who was developing medical devices. My old friend said that during heart surgery patients are put on a heart-lung machine (maybe they call it something else now), and that in bypassing the lungs the blood bypasses one of its major filters. Microthrombi can develop, and yes, in some patients they can indeed cause brain damage.

Knowing this will certainly influence my own uture decisions about this kind of surgery, even though my aunt who had it in her 80s was fine afterwards.

[postulater]

16. I respect some doctors for their knowledge but not many for their jujudgment

and I don't find many of them who know much about health, just disease.

[malaise]

5. Enjoy life

It's all we have

[Stuart G]

6. I am happy for you...k and r

[11 Bravo]

7. I was diagnosed with cancer on July 7, 1997, and again in March of this year.

I kicked the first one's ass, and things are looking great for round two. Stay strong, and maintain that positive outlook!

[Skittles]

11. go at it, 11 Bravo, KICK ITS ASS AGAIN

yes INDEED

[Skittles]

10. rsmith, beating cancer ass! LOVE IT!

[whistler162]

12. Good for you.....

my grandmother survived for nearly 40 years after diagnosis of colon cancer and having much of her colon removed.

[Hekate]

15. Congratulations, stay healthy, and carpe diem like heck!

[Liberal_in_LA]

17. glad u are well