COLONOSCOPY How hard is it on you?

Parents Forum Parent Cafe
1504

@Consolation Thank you.

We are cautiously hopeful going forward. He’s had two good CT scans, one pre-and one post-chemo.

We are lucky that the cancer was found when it was. He was a-symptomatic prior to the CT scan that found it. He is also fortunate that he was in excellent health. As an active duty military physician, he was in excellent shape, which made a big difference in his ability to recover from the surgery.

We are thankful for 100% insurance coverage for active duty soldiers.

He is inching towards resuming fully active duty status as a physician.

I can not imagine dealing with this and also having to worry about paying for what is nearing $2 million in medical bills.

1505

My Dad had a similar type of cancer which spread all over the intestines and other abdominal structures, kinda like mildew, Carcinoid. Clean colonoscopies. Rather than mucous, it had a hormonal effect. It was discovered at stage IV with full liver involvement and he still ended up living 4 years.

1506

@eastcoastcrazy, I hear you on the financial issues. I had emergency surgery/diagnosis/week-long hospital stay just a few weeks before my 65th birthday, before the first of the month when Medicare would have kicked in. Eight years ago, we were uninsured for a while after a long period of grossly inadequate self-paid insurance ($15K deductible per person, for example!) It would have been financially ruinous if I had not been insured through H’s employer.

H has been taking care of all of the billing stuff, and hasn’t told me how much we’ve actually paid out of pocket, because he doesn’t think I should have to worry about that, too, but we’ve long since satisfied the deductibles and passed into “everything covered” territory. I’m grateful.

1507

In May I scheduled a colonoscopy as a follow up from my first one, in which they found an extremely large but completely benign polyp. Usually polyps that large are cancerous. The doctor wanted me to come back in two years, but I put if off for another year, and then we had THREE deaths in our close family, and three turned into four. By the time I scheduled this one, I was kicking myself really hard for waiting. I thought I would/should be the last person to show up with colon cancer that could have been caught far earlier (DH is a colon cancer survivor, and I worked endo for years until last summer). So this has been weighing on me for three months.On top of my paranoia, I learned that an acquaintance of ours had recently died of colon cancer. I knew he had been diagnosed, but didn’t know he had gotten that ill. He had had a precancerous polyp removed, and came in exactly on time for his 3 year follow up, only to find that he had stage 4 cancer with mets to the liver and lung. He lived only 2.5 years after that shocking diagnosis. By the time my appointment came, I was really worried I’d screwed up big time by putting mine off.

I had it this morning and they only found one tiny, innocent looking polyp. I’m quite relieved, and I will never put off an exam again this long. I have also made an appt. for a mammogram, internal med visit, and bone scan. Then next up will be the dentist. No more putting my head in the sand while I take care of others first.

Like @dragonmom, I was given suprep this time (had prepopik the first time-great stuff). Suprep is really vile. Mine tasted like really salty lemon cough syrup. I nearly gagged several times, but I just chugged it down quickly using a straw. I agree with her about the fullness and bloating. Having been an endo nurse prior and seen many people go into the procedure not cleaned out, I had taken an aggressive approach and ate a very low residue diet for two days before my clear liquid day. I think I was already pretty empty when I started the prep, so very early through the first round, I was already completely clear. But being a rules person, I did the second round, to my great regret. I think I got one hour of sleep.

On the one hand, I see how one would prefer the FIT or virtual colonoscopy if there is no family history of polyps. The thing that would bother me about the FIT, however, are the false negatives. If you actually have a cancer that is missed, it has an entire year to grow before you have the next test. Even though colon cancer is usually a slow growing cancer, that fact was no consolation to our friend; that year could make the difference between early stage and infiltration leading to METS, or “less severe,” curable cancer that is nevertheless enough to mandate a permanent colostomy. As much as a beating as the colonoscopy was, it’s one day of my life. I don’t intend to put myself at such silly risk again.

I don’t have any colon cancer in my family whatsoever. But I need to set an example for my daughters, who by virtue of their Dad’s stage 3 cancer at age 46, DO have the need for early and timely screening. And you never know when you will be the first in a family to have a given cancer. Early detection is key, we all know this, so I need to walk the walk that I am preaching to my girls.

All that said, hoping to get a five year ticket. :slight_smile:

1508

Wow. You had and have every reason to get that test on time, and even you procrastinated!!

My next one is in two weeks and, while I’m not exactly looking forward to it, I know I’ll be relieved when it’s over. I’m on the five-year plan and this will be either my fourth or fifth. Getting kinda tired of this.

1509

@Nrdsb4 Before my sister, there was no colon cancer in our family at all. Now there’s both of us! You just never know

Good for you for getting it done.

My oncologist has told me that even if I had had another colonoscopy at the 5-year mark in 2015, it might not have made any difference. And he also thinks that my tumor did not develop from the kind of polyp that is easy to see and remove. There are no certainties with cancer, alas.

1510

However, it is not generally recommended to have colonoscopy (or virtual colonoscopy) as primary screening yearly, so the cancer that may have an extra year to grow between yearly FITs may have an extra N years to grow before the next colonoscopy if that is used as primary screening every N years (N = 10 in the usual recommendations).

But then if you believe that your risk of colon cancer is high enough to use colonoscopy as primary screening despite the extra medical risks and costs, you may also want to do FIT at yearly intervals during non-colonoscopy years, to increase the chance of catching cancers that can grow quickly during the N years between colonoscopies, at relatively little additional cost and no medical risk from the FIT sampling.

1511

All too true.

Health care professionals are often the worst at taking their own advice.

But the worrying was worse than just getting it done on time. Never again.

1512

@VeryHappy said:

It’s funny. 3 years in some ways seems like a long time. But when you get that reminder notice in the mail, you go “how could it have been 3 years ALREADY???”

1513

My feelings about routine exams in situations with no symptoms and no family history of relevant cancer have changed. I previously would have accepted the recommendations of the medical establishment for routine colonoscopy. My son’s friend just had an endoscopy, and it caused a hemorrhage, and he had to spend 20 days in the hospital. These exams can be very important in saving lives, but they also carry real risks.

1514

True, as does any invasive procedure, whether or not it is a screening procedure.

Colon rupture is a known risk of colonoscopy. In the 7 years I worked at the endo center, I think that happened only twice.

Before my first day at the center, I imagined that we would frequently be breaking the news of a cancer to people. It actually was rare; but we did find MANY many precancerous lesions that were removed before they infiltrated the colon.

1515

These two articles discuss colonoscopy complication rates:

https://www.medpagetoday.com/gastroenterology/generalgastroenterology/56204

https://www.asge.org/docs/default-source/education/practice_guidelines/doc-56321364-c4d8-4742-8158-55b6bef2a568.pdf

1516

Mailed my FIT back to the labs today. No history or known risk so I chose the least invasive route. My physician was very comfortable with this choice. Will do it annually.

1517

Had my colonoscopy this AM. Happy to receive a good report. Also happy not to do the prep for another 10 years.

1518

^Lucky to get to wait that long!

1519

^^^ This is OP, I am amazed that this thread lived so long! I am glad I was cleared for 10 years until 2021.

1520

My H is going to have an endoscopy and colonoscopy next Wednesday. He’s already stopped eating anything with seeds or nuts and will begin a low fiber diet this weekend.

His doctor gave him ClenPiq and told him that Prepopik (which I used last year) is not on the market any more as too many people had electrolyte problems.

1521

OP - thank you for starting this thread. You have motivated more than a few of us to make and to follow through with our appointments.

1522

I think the popularity of this thread is rooted in the saying that “misery loves company.” :slight_smile:

1523

Have to do another colonoscopy soon. I don’t think I can stand to do the Golytely (if that’s how to spell it, I blocked it from my mind), lemon flavored sweat prep.

ClenPiq sounds pretty good. Is that the standard least sucky method nowadays?