Surviving Colorectal Cancer, Part 2
Declining a colonoscopy at age 76 was my tragic mistake.
I never thought about having colorectal cancer and struggling to survive until my 80s.
Maybe I would have Alzheimer’s later in life like my mother, who lived to 90 even after two mild strokes. Or maybe cardiovascular problems like my father, who had a carotid artery stent at age 90 and lived to 94.
But colorectal cancer? Never.
It wasn’t in my direct family background, although my paternal grandmother had breast cancer. My only sibling, a sister three years younger than I am, is vigilant and has frequent cancer screenings that don’t indicate problems.
Over the years, I had non-invasive cancer screenings during my annual physical exams. The screening consisted of a digital rectal exam, a lab test for prostate cancer, and a take-home fecal test kit to mail back for results. I had no symptoms, everything was normal, and the test kit results never showed traces of blood.
When I was 50, I also had a sigmoidoscopy with normal results. But after I retired in 2007 at age 64, I became lazy and didn’t have annual physical exams. I was enjoying living on the Baja peninsula in Mexico and exploring it from Tijuana to Los Cabos.
In 2012, after a divorce in 2009, I met Maria, a wonderful woman from Guadalajara, Mexico. We married in San Diego in 2013 and began living in Guadalajara close to her family. In 2014, she and I began wellness checkups every six months and annual physicals at my medical group in San Diego during our semi-annual vacations to visit family and friends.
During my last physical exam, just before the USA imposed COVID-19 travel restrictions from Mexico, I had discussed a colonoscopy with my doctor. He said a colonoscopy after age 75 was optional based on guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that considered family history, normal health exams, and no symptoms.
So, in good health at age 76, I declined. Looking back, that was a TRAGIC mistake on my part.
It’s almost certain that a colonoscopy at age 76 would have detected my colorectal cancer.
Probably, my malignant tumor had not reached Stage IIIc at that point.
Likely, my treatment would not have been so aggressive and my surgery would not have been so invasive.
Maybe, I would have avoided much of the trauma and disruptions for both Maria and me resulting from aggressive chemotherapy and radiation and two surgeries that required hospital stays of a month each.
The incision scar stretching from my sternum to my pelvic region will be a daily reminder of my mistake for the rest of my life.
Why am I sharing my personal experience with colorectal cancer? As I said in Part 1 of my articles about surviving so far, I hope nobody in my family or among my friends experiences what I have. The same hope extends to people I don’t know.
I hope you will get screened for colorectal cancer regularly if you are over 45 EVEN IF YOU HAVE NO FAMILY HISTORY OF CANCER AND NO SYMPTOMS. And continue screening even after age 75.
You don’t want to experience advanced-stage colorectal cancer. Trust me.
The National Cancer Institute has a 2023 fact sheet showing that colorectal cancer is now the second leading cause of cancer deaths in the USA, right behind lung cancer. And, because it is affecting more people at a younger age, the CDC now recommends colorectal cancer screening beginning at age 45.
The CDC website discusses different screening tests at regular intervals. Don’t settle for normal wellness appointments with a digital rectal exam and a fecal test kit that you mail back to your health care provider. At a minimum, insist on the additional stool tests and a flexible sigmoidoscopy. A colonoscopy would be even better because it would examine the entire colon.
Before cancer, my overall health was good for my age. After I retired in 2007, I began eating better and walking more and my weight dropped to 180 pounds with a BMI of 24.4, within the normal range.
My blood pressure was usually less than 129/80, which the National Institute of Aging considers as elevated for older adults but not a serious health problem. My ECG readings were normal.
I had never smoked. After I moved to Guadalajara from living near the Baja peninsula wine region, my only alcohol consumption was a glass of wine on special occasions.
All of that, plus my family history, is why I never thought about having colorectal cancer.
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About me: In June of 2022, at age 78, I was diagnosed with Stage IIIc colorectal cancer. After five months of aggressive chemotherapy and radiation to shrink the tumor, I had successful surgery in January of 2023 followed by surgery in May to reverse my colostomy.
My oncologist and my wife both urged me to write about my experience as a cathartic way to come to terms with my battle to survive. To celebrate my 80th birthday in October of 2023, I began posting articles on Medium.
I hope the articles will help people understand the need to have regular colon cancer screenings and also help other colorectal cancer patients deal with everyday life while trying to survive five years or more.
If you like the articles, clap a few times, leave comments, and share them with people you care about. Thanks!
