Membership Services
Nagging Again
I have previously addressed the topic of colon cancer in AOPA Pilot (“Cancer’s a funny thing” May 2010, page 40”) but given that people are still getting this disease, including folks I know personally, my mission is not complete and I will not stop nagging until this killer is a distant memory.
The colon, or large intestine, commences where the small bowel plugs into the cecum just above the right side of your waist. The right sided colon then flows uphill to the ribcage, turns left to become the “transverse colon” underneath the stomach, takes a little detour up to say hello to the spleen and then dives down as the left colon to the pelvis. Here it does a couple of aileron rolls to become the “sigmoid” colon before popping under the cloud cover of the peritoneum to become the “rectum” (which means straight) and then joins the anal canal. The colon functions to extract water from our feces and the rectum to store poop until we are ready to deposit it in the appropriate receptacle. The anal sphincter mechanism serves to ensure we have control over when and where that happens – harder to do with liquid feces as anyone who has been visited by Montezuma’s revenge well knows.
Our entire gastrointestinal tract is lined by mucosa, the same sort of stuff you see if you say “aaahhhh” while looking at your mouth in the mirror. The cells that make up the mucosa turn over regularly and are excreted with the rest of fecal waste. Colon cancer most commonly arises in the cells of glands within the mucosa and is known as adenocarcinoma.
The majority of these cancers start their mischievous lives as polyps, cauliflower-like growths that contain initially relatively normal cells but over time turn nasty. Other risk factors for colon cancer and conditions like ulcerative colitis or genetic predisposition.
So my first nag point is ascertain your family history – has anyone in your clan had this or other cancers that might indicate you have a higher than usual risk? Even if you have no symptoms, see your doctor and get checked.
We know that certain dietary and lifestyle choices raise your chances of becoming a stool statistic: low fiber and high fat diets, binge alcoholic drinking, smoking, inactivity – these things are under your control, so take control and make some changes.
Symptoms of either polyps or colon cancer can be non-existent, especially if located on the right side of the bowel where the feces are fluid so not easily impeded. Left-sided cancers tend to declare their presence with blood in the stool or by blocking passage causing constipation, altered bowel habit or pain – a relatively rare symptom.
The best approach – and nag number two – is to get screened and the best screening test is a colonoscopy. Most insurance companies cover this at 50 years of age or younger in the presence of family history or symptoms. Now I know that this strikes fear into most people but the test is not horrid – one day of a clear liquid diet (no, not vodka – chicken broth!), some medicine to clean out the bowel and a nice snooze at the hospital while your new best friend inserts several feet of piping up your tail end. The magic words ‘you are all clear, see me in five years” make it all worthwhile.
I have seen people I care about suffer needlessly with colon cancer and all because they did not get screened. So do me –and yourself – a favor and have a screening colonoscopy this year.
March 10, 2011
