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My Take

Scary health news

Mark McGee
Posted 1/22/22

There is a commercial on television that opens with the line, “Everyone remembers where they were when they first heard they had cancer.” Well, I definitely remember where I was.

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My Take

Scary health news

Posted

There is a commercial on television that opens with the line, “Everyone remembers where they were when they first heard they had cancer.” Well, I definitely remember where I was. I was sitting in the parking lot at the post office when the call came in two weeks ago.  

“Hate to hit you over the head with a two-by-four so early in the morning,” my doctor said. “But one of the polyps in your colon is cancerous.”  

After the colonoscopy, my doctor tried to put a positive spin on his findings. It was a polyp the size of a golf ball. He explained the larger the polyp, the greater the odds it would be cancerous. But he urged me to wait on the lab results and to not worry.  

I wasn’t surprised with the lab result. I had tried to keep the possibility out of my mind. After his phone call the worries finally began. Since then, there have been tests and discussions. Scans showed I had no cancer in my stomach which was great news. The cancer is localized in my colon. The surgeon will remove a portion. You have six feet of colon so you can do without a few inches.  

I have heard scary health news before. Last year was the 10th anniversary of my surgery for an aortic aneurysm, a procedure I was given a five to 10 percent chance of surviving. Thanks to God and a whole bunch of prayers I am still around.  

Like George Bailey in “It’s A Wonderful Life” so many prayers went up for him that it was necessary to dispatch a guardian angel. I didn’t see a guardian angel, but my doctor told my friends and family he received an assist from somewhere other than his considerable skills. No wonder it is my favorite movie.  

The odds on this surgery being successful are much more optimistic. Doctors think they can fix me with little or no problems. Many have asked me about radiation or chemotherapy. Those words haven’t been mentioned yet. The colonoscopy discovered the problem in its early stages.  

No one likes to talk about them, but after you turn 45 you should undergo the procedure every five years.  

I don’t talk with my surgeon until next week. From what I have been able to determine I will be in the hospital for four or five days. What bothers me the most is the post-operative care may require me to be sidelined for approximately four weeks. I am not good at dealing with being on the sidelines.  

Everyone says the key is to be positive, again not one of my strong points. But I am doing my best to look on the bright side. Keep me in your prayers. I am firmly convinced they help.