Medical issues and procedures

[zx10guy]

Just ran across this thread and saw the posts about colonoscopies. Just putting it out there, if you are due for one, don't put it off. I didn't have a choice. Diagnosed at 42 with Stage 3B Colon Cancer. Makes me furious when people make up all the lame excuses not to get scoped. Believe me, the prep and procedure is nothing compared to having to go through surgery and chemo. Nor the anxiety of going through PTSD every 3 months as you have scanxiety waiting for your scan results to see if the cancer is back or not. Or the pain of dealing with losing people you get close to in the cancer support groups that die from the same disease you have.

[Esteban]

Originally Posted by zx10guy

Just ran across this thread and saw the posts about colonoscopies. Just putting it out there, if you are due for one, don't put it off. I didn't have a choice. Diagnosed at 42 with Stage 3B Colon Cancer. Makes me furious when people make up all the lame excuses not to get scoped. Believe me, the prep and procedure is nothing compared to having to go through surgery and chemo. Nor the anxiety of going through PTSD every 3 months as you have scanxiety waiting for your scan results to see if the cancer is back or not. Or the pain of dealing with losing people you get close to in the cancer support groups that die from the same disease you have.

Hope you are cancer free and stay that way, my friend.

[zx10guy]

Originally Posted by Esteban

Hope you are cancer free and stay that way, my friend.

Thank you my friend.

[Oldgixxer]

Originally Posted by zx10guy

Just ran across this thread and saw the posts about colonoscopies. Just putting it out there, if you are due for one, don't put it off. I didn't have a choice. Diagnosed at 42 with Stage 3B Colon Cancer. Makes me furious when people make up all the lame excuses not to get scoped. Believe me, the prep and procedure is nothing compared to having to go through surgery and chemo. Nor the anxiety of going through PTSD every 3 months as you have scanxiety waiting for your scan results to see if the cancer is back or not. Or the pain of dealing with losing people you get close to in the cancer support groups that die from the same disease you have.

Sorry to hear all that brother;I was scheduled for the scope back in January and had to cancel as I was dealing w the other issue I have. Initial PET scan lit up a few places where my cancer metastasized,but didn't show anything in my digestive tract which is good I suppose,but still no substitute for the actual scope.

Once I beat the testicular cancer(Monday I begin week 6 of 9wk chemo plan!) and I'm good to go,I'll be getting the scope in the heiney.

I wish you the best

[KRS_SN]

Originally Posted by Oldgixxer

-L5-S1 fusion 2015
-L2-S1 revision 2017
-C4-6 fusion 2018
-reverse shoulder replacement 2019
Pic of me is recent,after all those surgeries listed above

Don't let anything stop you;all the Dr's said to me you'll never be able to lift again(been hitting the weights since '89) I told em all yup if you say so. I adapted and adjusted my training accordingly,wasn't easy at all but I figured it out.
Was doing great until the cancer. I'll be back
Apologies for the huge pics,I attempted to downsize them

Thanks for sharing
I've started lifting (only the 5 compounds) in the last few months and liking it. I'm 44.
Im anxious to know if those surgeries you wrote about were linked to lifting.

[Llarry]

Originally Posted by UncleWede

Don't you check your own

Of course I do, but I am an amateur and would appreciate a backup from a trained and experienced physician once in a while.

[zx10guy]

Originally Posted by Oldgixxer

Sorry to hear all that brother;I was scheduled for the scope back in January and had to cancel as I was dealing w the other issue I have. Initial PET scan lit up a few places where my cancer metastasized,but didn't show anything in my digestive tract which is good I suppose,but still no substitute for the actual scope.

Once I beat the testicular cancer(Monday I begin week 6 of 9wk chemo plan!) and I'm good to go,I'll be getting the scope in the heiney.

I wish you the best

And I'm sorry to hear about your situation too. Any cancer just sucks in general. Your situation is very different concerning why you haven't been scoped. Having a PET show nothing in your GI track is some decent assurance there's nothing there. But I would also get the scope when you can. With you going through treatment, I would think any invasive procedure would be put on hold till you're out of treatment for a certain period. At least that's what was the case for me with my chemo regiment. The fear is the inflammation and any potential bleeding control. When I got done with treatment, I wanted the blasted powerport out of my chest. My doc told me to wait two weeks before scheduling the procedure due to ensuring any chemo traces/side effects are out of my system.

Hang in there brother. You'll get through this.

[nazali]

Also (due to DM) had my pupils dilated.
Seemed fine in the optician,
Got out and O M G I couldnt see, blinding light got into the car drove home with sunglasses, am squinting all over the place.
Effects should be gone in a few hours

I forgot the effects of Dilation, I was "just ok to drive", number plates were a bit blurry)

ON the positive , got a clean bill of health, here's my OCT pictures optic nerve is a bit wider than normal, which could be a sign of glaucoma, but had it checked by an indepth opthamologist, sad it was probably genetic
No change since last year

[R BMW]

I hate it when they just say your good to go after the dilation drops.
It’s like “impared” driveing if you don’t wait for a while to drive after.

[2000cs]

I’ve been scoped so many times that I revised the lyrics to Joni Mitchell’s song, Clouds:

I’ve looked at Mike from both ends now
From up and down, and still somehow
It’s Mike’s ilium I recall
I really don’t know Mike at all.

My GI didn’t think it was funny or even clever.

Second the recommendation to get scoped if you’re due. It is really no big deal at all, the prep is easy. Way overblown in pop culture. The only people I’ve ever heard complain about the procedure had polyps removed, which adds some discomfort for a day or so, but isn’t that worth it?

[Lady Jane]

Originally Posted by nazali

ON the positive , got a clean bill of health. No change since last year

Nice of you to share the pictures of your exam. If you ever get a colonoscopy or other invasive procedures, please keep the pictures to yourself.

[kscarrol]

Maybe it's just my eye doc but I thought the digital retina scan negated the need to be dilated. Haven't been dilated in years but glad OP is looking good!

And agree with Lady Jane!

[nerdogray]

They no longer do dilation at my optometrist. They use this machine called an "Optomap" that gives what looks like the same kind of image. Pretty cool, though. Maybe five years ago, I had indications of high blood pressure in blood vessels of retina. Managed to reverse it and have had clean scans ever since. I think it's a great idea to have these done because some silent health issues will show up as kind of an "early warning."

[Oldgixxer]

Originally Posted by zx10guy

And I'm sorry to hear about your situation too. Any cancer just sucks in general. Your situation is very different concerning why you haven't been scoped. Having a PET show nothing in your GI track is some decent assurance there's nothing there. But I would also get the scope when you can. With you going through treatment, I would think any invasive procedure would be put on hold till you're out of treatment for a certain period. At least that's what was the case for me with my chemo regiment. The fear is the inflammation and any potential bleeding control. When I got done with treatment, I wanted the blasted powerport out of my chest. My doc told me to wait two weeks before scheduling the procedure due to ensuring any chemo traces/side effects are out of my system.

Hang in there brother. You'll get through this.

Than you for the support it's very much appreciated,funny you mentioned the damn port. I had the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville do the port#1 install,started my chemo 2 days later and port had to come out and a new one installed due to "a blood vessel being nicked" which led to a massive hematoma. That was port #1. Port #2 has been good to go since 9/29 and the other nite it started to ooze puss from the 99.9% healed incision.

Port#2 is now infected,cannot be used for chemo and has to come out. As you're aware,an infection is not good when you're immune system is compromised from chemo treatments.

Port#3 is scheduled to go in this monday,and port#2 is being removed. I F'n swear I have the worst luck. Im simply beyond upset and angry,this is kinda the straw that broke the camels back,so to speak. I'm about ready to say fuck the chemo and I'll just take my chances from here.

I've officially hit rock bottom everybody,I think I'm done&gonna tap out

[tturedraider]

Originally Posted by kscarrol

Maybe it's just my eye doc but I thought the digital retina scan negated the need to be dilated. Haven't been dilated in years but glad OP is looking good!

And agree with Lady Jane!

Originally Posted by nerdogray

They no longer do dilation at my optometrist. They use this machine called an "Optomap" that gives what looks like the same kind of image. Pretty cool, though. Maybe five years ago, I had indications of high blood pressure in blood vessels of retina. Managed to reverse it and have had clean scans ever since. I think it's a great idea to have these done because some silent health issues will show up as kind of an "early warning."

I just had the “Optomap”. It doesn’t completely eliminate any need for dilation. I am pretty myopic and have a pretty high diopter prescription, -6.75 to -7.25 range. Dilation wasn’t part of my routine exam, but my doctor recommended I schedule an appointment just for that, because of my high prescription. Haven’t done it yet, but I’m going to, because I haven’t had a dilated exam in over ten years.

[cmyx6go]

Originally Posted by nazali

Also (due to DM) had my pupils dilated.
Seemed fine in the optician,
Got out and O M G I couldnt see, blinding light got into the car drove home with sunglasses, am squinting all over the place.
Effects should be gone in a few hours

I forgot the effects of Dilation, I was "just ok to drive", number plates were a bit blurry)

WTF? Don’t they need to tell you in advance if they will dilate? That’s downright dangerous to drive with dilated pupils. I went to the ophthalmologist yesterday. No dilate but he put some drops in to numb my eyes to do some pressure test. I still felt weird driving.

[Esteban]

Originally Posted by R BMW

I hate it when they just say your good to go after the dilation drops.
It’s like “impared” driveing if you don’t wait for a while to drive after.

I see my ophthalmologist once a year (have cataract lenses) and they dilate my eyes. When they call me or text me the day before my appointment to confirm they always mention that I should have someone drive me, which I do.

[Esteban]

Originally Posted by 2000cs

I’ve been scoped so many times that I revised the lyrics to Joni Mitchell’s song, Clouds:

I’ve looked at Mike from both ends now
From up and down, and still somehow
It’s Mike’s ilium I recall
I really don’t know Mike at all.

My GI didn’t think it was funny or even clever.

Second the recommendation to get scoped if you’re due. It is really no big deal at all, the prep is easy. Way overblown in pop culture. The only people I’ve ever heard complain about the procedure had polyps removed, which adds some discomfort for a day or so, but isn’t that worth it?

Agree that it's no big deal. Also, I had a polyp removed and I felt no discomfort at all. Guess I'm a hard-ass.

Oh, and nice lyrics.

[floridaorange]

Wow - so what age should we be checked for this sort of thing?

[Esteban]

Originally Posted by floridaorange

Wow - so what age should we be checked for this sort of thing?

It is recommended that regular screening should start at 45. Then get checked every 10 years. If something if found, like in my case, a polyp, then every 5 years because there's a risk.

[dradernh]

Originally Posted by floridaorange

Wow - so what age should we be checked for this sort of thing?

Besides age, one criteria I've been told is if either of your parents or grandparents had colon cancer.

In my case, my mom had it, so I started getting colonoscopies after my next checkup. I had a number of polyps and was assigned a three-year wait before the next colonoscopy. I only had a couple of polyps after that one and was assigned a five-year wait for the next one. I'm having another in a couple of weeks.

[Esteban]

Originally Posted by dradernh

Besides age, one criteria I've been told is if either of your parents or grandparents had colon cancer.

In my case, my mom had it, so I started getting colonoscopies after my next checkup. I had a number of polyps and was assigned a three-year wait before the next colonoscopy. I only had a couple of polyps after that one and was assigned a five-year wait for the next one. I'm having another in a couple of weeks.

I wish you good luck. 👍