Prevention Begins at Home (And Sometimes in the Colon)

We use different types of prevention in Public Health. Let me tell you about them and about my “little brother,” Dad’s tumor.

An ounce of prevention is worth, like, a lot. (Image via Unsplash+)

My father developed colon cancer a little over ten years ago. He called me early in the year to tell me that he had been having abdominal pain and some trouble keeping food down.

Not being a physician, I had no clue what could be happening. Being an epidemiologist, I told him that many things could be happening, but he should see his physician.

He didn’t. He decided to manage the symptoms as best as he could.

A few weeks later, he mentioned having some sort of mass in his abdomen, right above and to the left of his belly button. He said he could feel it go up and down, especially after eating. He said that’s when the pain was worst.

Again, I told him to see the doctor. He decided to wait.

A few weeks after that, about three months from the first time he told me something was wrong, the pain got to be too much. He went to the doctor, who ordered some lab tests, thinking Dad had a bad gallbladder. But the doctor was also worried about the mass. So he ordered some x-rays. (Dad lives in rural Mexico, where anything more…