{"id":657,"date":"2024-03-01T12:05:26","date_gmt":"2024-03-01T17:05:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gassett.info\/david\/?p=657"},"modified":"2024-03-31T09:20:40","modified_gmt":"2024-03-31T14:20:40","slug":"march-is-colorectal-cancer-awareness-month","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gassett.info\/david\/2024\/03\/01\/march-is-colorectal-cancer-awareness-month\/","title":{"rendered":"March is Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Pinned Post<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

My favorite color is dark blue and the ribbon for colorectal cancer is dark blue<\/a> as well.\u00a0 March is my birthday month (St. Patrick\u2019s Day) and March is also Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month<\/a>. So, this seems like a really good time to remind everyone to remind themselves and\/or anyone around them to be aware and get screened for colorectal cancer<\/a> (or any other cancer) as needed. I\u2019ll post a link to screening recommendations and other info, but the most important thing (my opinion) that I can pass on is to make an effort to catch this or any cancer as early as possible.\u00a0 That means getting screened as soon as it\u2019s recommended or earlier if you have additional concerns, history, etc. It also means that someone will have to do some thing(s) that may be uncomfortable or embarrassing.
\u00a0
Here\u2019s what I can tell you about my experience.\u00a0 I honestly thought I had very, very bad hemorrhoids, and I found that horribly embarrassing to think about much less mention.\u00a0 I most likely had some small internal hemorrhoids in my late 20s or 30s that caused some very minor bleeding, actually discussed them with my doctor, and found out it wasn’t of great concern.\u00a0 Later on in my 40s, I had some similar bleeding and really didn\u2019t think much of it, more than likely it was more of the same thing.\u00a0 However, eventually (there\u2019s no good way to put this) I felt what I assumed to be hemorrhoids \u201cpop out,\u201d and I\u2019d gently push them back in.\u00a0 I read up on them and used various creams and whatnot and life went on.\u00a0 I never mentioned this to anyone. Sometime around the fall of 2022 it seemed to get worse. There seemed to be more of them and more blood which made it that much more embarrassing for me.\u00a0 I continued to push on until after the first of 2023 when it started to affect my bowel movements.\u00a0 I had to go more and it was much more uncomfortable when I did.\u00a0 I knew something wasn\u2019t right and told myself I\u2019d bring it up at my next physical, told no one, and marched along.\u00a0 Finally, around March of 2023 it started affecting what I could eat. Mainly it affected my eating hot or spicy things.\u00a0 I could measure the time from when I ate something spicy to when I\u2019d get the absolute worst burning pain in my lower abdomen.\u00a0 Being very, very stubborn, I tested this way too many times \u201cjust to be sure.\u201d Slowly it started to affect my appetite and I started losing weight. By late spring it was obvious that something was wrong, and I started mentioning it to DeeGee and we started looking at all the different colon conditions that could cause these things (there are quite a few). She finally convinced me (made an appointment and said we were going) to see the doctor about it even though I distinctly remember wanting to wait just a few more weeks to test out some adjustments in my diet.\u00a0 I\u2019m really glad I didn\u2019t because by the time I went to that appointment I had lost enough blood over time that I needed a 2 unit blood transfusion with iron.\u00a0 I had cut grass the day before and learned at that appointment that when I was resting and gulping air it was because my body didn\u2019t have enough red blood cells to carry the oxygen I needed.\u00a0 This is probably a good time to mention that in the previous months there had been a lot of blood in my bowel movements. Again, no easy way to put this, but I\u2019m not talking about signs of blood like dark coffee grounds or something, I\u2019m referring to straight up blood.\u00a0 Blood that I had been too embarrassed \u00a0and too afraid to mention to anyone and most likely barely acknowledged myself.\u00a0 There had been other changes too that I would describe as jelly-like.\u00a0 All of this had been going on for months.\u00a0 Again, during those months I had still convinced myself that it was really, really bad hemorrhoids and managed them as well as I could on my own.\u00a0 I had assured myself that I\u2019d discuss it with the doctor at my physical which could have been as late as the fall or winter and who knows if I even would have then.\u00a0 I was even trying to make peace with the fact that I\u2019d eventually have a colonoscopy at 50 (I was 47).\u00a0 Honestly, I\u2019m not sure I would have even done that at that age if I weren\u2019t forced to.\u00a0 I say all this to say how lucky I really am.\u00a0 Because I\u2019m so stubborn, and I was so embarrassed, I could have kept trying to deal with this on my own for who even knows how long.\u00a0 If I was lucky, maybe I would have passed out around somebody from the loss of blood, and I can see that being one of the only sure ways I might have addressed it.\u00a0 But I didn\u2019t go that route.\u00a0 I don\u2019t feel like I went the best route, I wish I had brought it up a lot sooner and gotten checked a lot sooner. I wish I hadn\u2019t thought I knew what it was and let someone else help me sooner and went to the doctor for an actual diagnosis.
\u00a0
So what does all this mean? How can I convince anybody to approach the embarrassing thing that they may have already developed a perfectly good (but wrong) explanation for to reach out and consider turning all that upside down? I suppose the short answer is that I can\u2019t. I can only say that if any of what I described including the feelings or if you know or suspect any family history or if you\u2019re 45 or older you seriously consider not only talking to your doctor but also getting a colonoscopy to find out for sure.\u00a0 Here\u2019s the part where I\u2019m going to be honest about the reality of the situation.\u00a0 It wasn\u2019t easy for me to talk about any of this in the beginning. Having DeeGee keep notes and go with me helped keep me honest and be more straight forward about what I was experiencing. As I went through more and more steps it was hard for me to deal with everything that was happening and easy to get overwhelmed. Next, let me say that you should get a colonoscopy, period. No ifs, ands, or buts\u2026 \ud83d\ude00 But also let me be honest and say it\u2019s not easy and it\u2019s not comfortable. Going to a doctor with a lot of practical experience made me feel better about the procedure in general and confident in the results, but it didn\u2019t let me avoid the reality of everything that needs to be done before to prepare for it or the procedure itself. All that said, I will be forever grateful that I did it when I did, and I\u2019ll be doing it again soon and regularly. That\u2019s just how it is. I\u2019ll follow my doctor\u2019s recommendations just like I do with any other procedure.\u00a0 The only really good thing about it is that you\u2019ll have straight information about where you stand after it, and you can help others by telling them that it might not have been pleasant but you did it anyway and consider recommending that they do it, too.
\u00a0
So that\u2019s my post for Colorectal Cancer<\/a> Awareness Month. My hope is that somebody reads it and considers having a discussion with someone and\/or even considering getting tested for not just colorectal cancer but any cancer they may need to be tested for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

MORE INFO:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

American Cancer Society Colorectal Cancer Info<\/a> – information about colorectal cancer<\/p>\n\n\n\n

American Cancer Society National Colorectal Cancer Roundtable<\/a> – more info and resources for colorectal cancer<\/p>\n\n\n\n

CDC Colorectal Cancer Screening Info<\/a> – latest info on screening for colorectal cancer<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Pinned Post My favorite color is dark blue and the ribbon for colorectal cancer is dark blue as well.\u00a0 March is my birthday month (St. Patrick\u2019s Day) and March is also Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month. So, this seems like a really good time to remind everyone to remind themselves and\/or anyone around them to be […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-657","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"blocksy_meta":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gassett.info\/david\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/657","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gassett.info\/david\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gassett.info\/david\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gassett.info\/david\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gassett.info\/david\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=657"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/gassett.info\/david\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/657\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":677,"href":"https:\/\/gassett.info\/david\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/657\/revisions\/677"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gassett.info\/david\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=657"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gassett.info\/david\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=657"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gassett.info\/david\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=657"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}