Autistic Goblin

One of the cancers that doesn’t get a lot of attention but kills a lot of people is Colorectal Cancer, mostly because people don’t want to talk about their butts or their shit.

The following is a direct quote from the Government of Canada’s Colorectal Cancer page:

Most colorectal cancer starts in the cells that line the inside of the colon or the rectum. The cancer usually grows slowly and is curable when diagnosed at an early stage.

• It is estimated that 26,300 Canadians will be diagnosed with colorectal cancer in 2019 (14,600 males and 11,700 females) and 9,500 (5,200 males and 4,400 females) Canadians will die from the disease.
• 1 in 14 men and 1 in 18 women are expected to develop colorectal cancer during their lifetimes; 1 in 32 men, and 1 in 37 women, will die of it.
• Colorectal cancer is responsible for 11.9% of new cancer cases and 11.7% of cancer deaths.
• In 2009, an estimated 55,985 men and 48,145 women were living with or surviving from colorectal cancer in Canada. That means that 1 in 297 Canadian men and 1 in 351 Canadian women were diagnosed with colorectal cancer at some point during the previous 10 years.

The World Health Organization has this to say about the matter

Colorectal cancer is the third most common cancer worldwide, accounting for approximately 10% of all cancer cases and is the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide.

The fact is that getting screened as early as 45 years old should be the standard and yet in many places the standard to even begin screening is 50 years old. That is all too often too late.

Colon Cancer runs in my family bloodline, while I have managed to skip the genetic colon cancer genes.. my risk is still pretty high. Which why I recently had my first Colonoscopy. Colon prep is very limiting in what you can eat and drink for a few days prior to the colonoscopy.

Some family members weren’t so lucky, and they died recently. Which is actually why I got a colonoscopy years before the normal screening would have happened. The take home test doesn’t always work to detect cancer so a colonoscopy is best.

Don’t worry your doctor will go through what you need to do and when. You might even get a little booklet about it. You will also most likely get to watch a video all about colonoscopies so that you have an idea of what to expect. Personally I chose anesthesia so that I would be relaxed.

I’m happy to report that I’m cancer free, and I won’t have to get another colonoscopy for 10 years unless my bowel movements do something weird or I experience symptoms consistent with Colon Cancer.

There are two runs in Canada to raise awareness about Colon Cancer. One is Push For Your Tush and the other one is Bum Run. Push for Your Tush isn’t timed, it’s more of a fun run 5k. Bum Run however is on Race Roster.