While some of you hardy males might shiver at the thought of this invasive procedure, imagine having 75% of your intestinal and digestive tract cut out instead, from cancer, for not doing it.
This happened to my mom, at just shy of 55, and she finally died about 9 months after the surgery. She was misdiagnosed by several doctors for about 20 YEARS with
Ulcerative colitis , when in fact she had
Crohn's disease and then CANCER eating her up from inside. And the medications she kept trying for the other disease were actually making the condition worse, not better. By the time a new doctor figured out what was really wrong, or what it turned into, it was well past too late, and it's kind of amazing she lived as long as she did after the surgery.
Her biggest weakness was smoking cigs, and ultra lights too boot, but she was also a pretty healthy eater and rarely ate meat. I just noticed smokers are 3 times more likely to get Crohn's disease, too, huh. Good thing I don't smoke.
When I had my exam about 5 years ago, they found a benign growth as big as my thumb (which is pretty big) in my upper GI tract which was causing cramping and pains after eating. They burned that sucker right off, and cauterized the opening, but I still have a little tenderness in that area from time to time. The doc said there was a good possibility it might have become malignant at some point if it continued to grow and blocked the GI tract. The doc also gave me copies of color pics taken internally, too, which were pretty weird to look at.
If any relatives of yours have a history of intestinal or digestive problems, you need this procedure done every 5-7 years at least. And you need your first screening at 35 or 40, too.
(edited and corrected for her disease symptoms, I had it a bit backwards.)
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