Your correspondent is not a person to share, shall we say, really personal stuff, particularly with regard to medical matters. In this case, however, the sharing falls under the heading of "public awareness" and giving a little push to a greater cause. The cause is screening for colon and rectal cancer, a disease that with the proper advance medical care can be prevented, and with early detection can be treated.
On March 6, at Fred Fletcher Park on Clay Street in Raleigh, there will be a fun family event called "Get Your Rear in Gear," which will include a 5K run or walk and a kids' fun run and assorted good times with other folks interested in the cause and some who are living with the disease. A national organization, the Colon Cancer Coalition, joins with local people in organizing several such events nationwide.
More about this in a moment.
For now, though, it's important to know that colon cancer has killed a lot of people, even though screenings could have saved many of them. These days, it's more common for people to get screened, but many don't.
Largely, the reasons are some misconceptions about what's involved in having the procedure done, what they've heard about the process of getting ready for it and naturally the fear of a bad outcome.
Phyllis Fowler, who works at Raleigh Endoscopy Center, is directing Get Your Rear in Gear. She knows all the reasons people give for not being screened.
"It's a combination of things," she said. "When you dread doing something you tend to put it off. And then everybody's heard all about the prep. But afterwards people are smiling. It's just taking that first step, making that appointment, that's hard."
Yep. I didn't have the family history with colon cancer that makes it an absolute necessity that some people get screened starting at age 40, but I'm 57, which meant I was about seven years overdue for a routine screening. My primary care doctor finally took charge, making me an appointment. I had heard stories about having to drink the equivalent of Falls Lake the night before, etc.
But when I picked up my preparation kit, it contained a smaller bottle and some powder and a couple of pills and a list of detailed instructions. I ate nothing for 24 hours before the screening, which was not all that hard, and I chose to flavor the "solution" with lemon-lime, which to tell you the truth really didn't make it taste like Sprite. I was up a lot during the night, but it wasn't all that uncomfortable.
A buddy picked me up at the crack of dawn and took me to Raleigh Endoscopy, where they gave me the gown, put me on a bed and were just as nice as they could be trying to make me feel at ease. Dr. Morris Pollock, who was doing my procedure, came by and then it was off to another room, where four or five or six people seemed to gather 'round, and I wondered aloud about whether I'd be able to feel anything or ... and then, in what seemed like a minute or two, I woke up feeling like I'd had a nice nap. I'd stopped talking in mid-sentence.
Dr. Pollock gave me a report, saying I was fine and good for 10 years, and even provided some pictures, which are nice and clear but not the kind of thing you'd paste in the family album next to Aunt Shirley, depending of course on how you felt about Aunt Shirley.
In short, if a whiner and a worrier can go through the screening with this much ease, it's all the more reason for everyone who's due for such a procedure to have one. It was easy. (Of course, I am off Sprite for a while. Maybe forever.)
In the meantime, join us at Fred Fletcher Park on March 6. You can register starting at 7 a.m. on that Saturday at the event, or go on line through www.getyourrearingear.com or sign up through the mail at the Colon Cancer Coalition - Raleigh, 8009 34th Ave., Suite 360, Bloomington, MN 55425. Pre-registration is $25 for adults and $12 for children ($30 and $15 the day of), and you'll get a T-shirt included. Events begin around 9 a.m.
Money raised stays here to sponsor events to educate people about colon and rectal cancer and the need for screenings. Eventually, sponsors hope some money can go toward helping disadvantaged people pay for such screenings. See you on March 6th.
