Tuesday, January 15, 2008

HEALTH: Save your life

I will spend Wednesday bemoaning the lack of food for most of the day, the need to get intimately acquainted with the porcelain throne for the rest of it. Seems I have to empty my system as much as possible.

I'm scheduled for a colonoscopy Thursday.

Nothing internally has prompted me to seek out this procedure, thankfully. While not a beacon of good health (or habits), I'm doing it, because of the shocking pre-Christmas news that my father had been diagnosed with colon cancer. He was operated on last week and is already at home feeling chipper and ready to use his computer again. (judge that as good or bad news by yourselves). The doctors (and I) are sure they caught it early. And the long-term life expectancy for early catches is phenomenally high. It IS manageable, if you catch it early.

However, since my dad's dad, and now, my father have gotten it, I move to the top of the list of likely candidates to continue the genetic trend. I'm overweight, don't eat enough fibre (an apple a day doesn't quite cut it) and have a myriad of other things breaking down my body. Sooooo, I go from having a colonoscopy once a decade to probably one every two years.

I'd like to complain about the procedure, but I survived my first one. I've had tubes down the throat this past year and that was actually tougher to recover from long term. And I was awake when my kidney guy examined my privates during the kidney stone attack of a few years back. At least I get to sleep through the colonoscopy.

All in all, I agree with W.C. Fields. I WOULD rather be in Philadelphia. But I'd prefer to be there alive. (Speaking of which, do a search on the internet for Merv Griffin's tombstone. My new fave epitaph)

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