Quote Originally Posted by Bliss View Post
Please everyone, commit to a colonoscopy screening.
Seconded.

One of my husband's best friends was diagnosed with Stage 4 colorectal cancer nearly five years ago. He's been doing pretty well (given the severity of the disease) up until the past several months. He's had surgery (permanent colostomy bag), multiple radiation treatments, and multiple rounds of chemo. Recently, they found that the cancer had spread to his lungs (it had previously spread to his liver), and now he has been given less than two months to live. His friends, including my DH, are all devastated. He lives across the country now, so that makes it harder, though we got to visit him last year, when he was doing much, much better.

The saddest part? He was having symptoms for months before he finally went for a colonoscopy. He had been laid off during the high-tech bubble (same time as my DH) and didn't dare go to the doctor before he had employer-provided health insurance again. He was on Cobra but knew that was going to run out soon. He had four children and a stay-at-home wife and didn't want to wrack up huge medical bills and burden his family or cause them to lose their home. That decision could have been the difference between life and death.

That something like this can happen to a college-educated computer professional with everything going for him who had the misfortune of getting sick at the wrong time points out some major inadequacies with the US health care system. It makes me furious just to think about this!

My DH and his friends have all learned from this, and DH got a screening colonoscopy when he turned 50 without even being dragged in by his ear. Thankfully, it was all clear. I'll be getting one when I turn 50 also (or earlier, should symptoms arise).

It's really important, folks.

Emily