Colon Cancer, how much does it cost in America?

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Terry

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Sorry if that came out wrong. I wasn't questioning anyone's character
Jar,
That's what my son thought when he read your post.
Dang, a guy gets kind of sensitive when he goes through this.

Two months ago, the doctor draws a picture of a bag hanging out of my side, and I'm like,
No way I'm wanting a bag there for six months.
He just smiled and said we could talk about it later.

Okay, six weeks of Chemo and Radiation, and trying to use the bathroom with raw and tender intestines, and dude, I think I'm okay with the bag idea now.
The last couple of weeks, I've been using pain pills at night to sleep.
That's new too.
Not like it's enough to sleep all night, but I do sleep now.
 
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FloridaOrange

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I've been using pain pills at night to sleep.
That's new too.
Not like it's enough to sleep all night, but I do sleep now.

Definitely not on the same level but the last time I whacked my back out (L1-L2 and L4-L5 herniated in two different directions) my doctor gave me Vicoden and said that will help with the pain and let you sleep. I asked him if he ever herniated his discs...his answer was no. I told him the meds make the pain tolerable but they don't make it go away.

He went back and gave me another prescription.

Hope things are going as well as they can Terry.
 

Redwoodvotesoften1

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Hi there Terry,

I wanna Appollogize that I didn't make it by sooner to wish ya well.

I been holed up in the basemint makin shine since the corn harvest an bin neeglecktin my E-Mails.
Today I seen won from Redwood sayin you wuz ailin.

I'm a gonna send yur dokter some o my best corn licker fer him ta sip on when he duz yer operasun so hez got a good steady hand and duz a good job o patchin ya up.

Me an the missus will say a few words for this Sunday when we gits dressed up in ar Sunday gone ta meetin clothes and goes on down ta the church.

Yer friend,
Hillbilly Man

PS Yer scared Redwood strait. In hiz E-Mail he done toll me that he quit smokin an he made an appointmint ta see on o them dokters that has wun o them there see snake gizmos wich he shuddah done 3 years ago wen he turned 50.
 

Terry

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PS Yer scared Redwood strait. In hiz E-Mail he done toll me that he quit smokin an he made an appointmint ta see on o them dokters that has wun o them there see snake gizmos wich he shuddah done 3 years ago wen he turned 50.

Thanks Hillbilly man,
I'm glad Redwood is checking with the snake gizmo.

I'm about a year away from the corn liker though,
My intestines are pretty sensitive right now.
I get to drink things like Gatorade and jello mix, haven't had the jello mix, but it's on my okay list.
One cup of coffee, that's not on my list.
I sneak in a glass of wine every so often.
Nothing with carbonation though.
 

Terry

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Colon-cancer deaths may drop, reserchers say


ATLANTA — Colon-cancer deaths could drop dramatically in the next decade because of better screening and treatment, according to an optimistic new prediction by top researchers.

And as of 2005, about half of U.S. adults aged 50 or older had had a recommended screening, such as a colonoscopy within the last 10 years or a stool blood test within the last year.

I waited until I was 57.
Not good.
If I had gone in at 50, I would now be cancer free.
The colonoscopy was a breeze.
Knowing what I know now, I would do one every day of the week, rather then suffer what I'm going through now.
The colonoscopy itself, was easy and quick.
Normally, they can find a few things to fix, which they did with me, and caught soon enough, they send you home, and tell you to come back in five years for the next one.
It's just too easy.

Wait too long, for something to develop into a full blown tumor, and it's a whole different ballgame.

If you're fifty, just do it!

Cancers of the colon and rectum, which together are the third-leading cancer killer in the United States. An estimated 50,000 people will die from it this year.

Things that contribute to colon cancer, smoking and eating red meat.
I have never smoked.
But I did love hamburgers and steak.
Since last December, I changed my diet almost completly.
 
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Ian Gills

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I didn't really eat hambugers until I came here.

Now I just can't resist. It's almost a weekly fix. They are so good.

I blame the Americans.

My wife needs to have colon screening soon. She's a long way off 50 but her mum had it so she needed screening from her mid-30s.
 

Terry

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Huskies' Trenton Tuiasosopo skips final game so he can be with father in hospital

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/stevekelley/2010457177_kelley09.html

In the early morning last Saturday, while his son slept in a chair in a hospital room at the University of Washington Medical Center, Sina Tuiasosopo walked across the room, brushed the hair back from Trenton Tuiasosopo's face and whispered, "You are my hero."
There are infinite ways for a son to show his love for his father. On the eve of his final college football game, Trenton chose to sacrifice the game that once had defined his life.
Trenton surrendered his last appearance as a Husky to be with his dad, who was suffering complications from colon cancer.
More of the story

I'm going to the same University of Washington Medical Center.
 

Cookie

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Well sometimes life just isn't fair. Like my son has been battling Mono, if the blood work comes back positive again, this makes 3 times. I can't tell you how afraid I am for him. If you dont know about the EBV virus it is what causes Mono. If you tested every person with lymphoma they would test positive for the Epstein Barr Virus. I was tested and I was positive. I also had Mono when I was 13.

One of the things with cancer any cancer is the inability to keep weight on. I guess at times, I can be too thin but then, who was it that said, " you can't be too thin or too rich." Now that I got the first part down pat I am working on the latter part of being too rich.
 

Terry

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One of the things with cancer any cancer is the inability to keep weight on.

Well, I do look better now with the lost weight.

My daughter had Mono in high school,
Does that cause problems later on in life?

I'm hearing a lot about shingles now, the last reminder from a childhood decease. I think I should get shots for that. My older brother got Shingles, and my younger brother.
I don't like those odds.
That's 2 out of 7
 

Rich B

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Terry I wish you a speedy and full recovery. I'm sorry to read of what your going thru and just found this thread today. I have had a few health scares and issues to deal with and am now 62. I have benefited a great deal from this message board and thankyou personally for helping me on at least one occasion. Get well buddy......RichB
 

Cookie

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Well, I do look better now with the lost weight.

My daughter had Mono in high school,
Does that cause problems later on in life?

I'm hearing a lot about shingles now, the last reminder from a childhood decease. I think I should get shots for that. My older brother got Shingles, and my younger brother.
I don't like those odds.
That's 2 out of 7

Unfortunately, yes it can. Will it? I hope not.

There are many sites in which you can read about it on.

Infectious Mononucleosis is the commonest clinical manifestation of EBV infection, either as a primary infection or due to symptomatic reactivation from latency.

However, EBV contributes to the pathogenesis of several other human diseases including:

Lymphomas.
Nasopharyngeal carcinoma.
Hairy Leukoplakia.

I would make sure if you to discuss that shingle vaccine first, because I know with any form of lymphoma you can not take it but I am unsure about Colon. Better safe than sorry Terry, ask first.

If overweight you can look great losing weight but not at 88 pounds, like I was.

So, you can understand fully about the Mono issue, I was 13 when I had Mono and was extremely sick. When I was 21 years old and on my birthday I developed a kidney stone as an added present ( better than chemo though, lol) Well, at the hospital the doctor came over to me looking very concerned and told me I needed to follow up my bloodwork and told me he thought I had leukemia, he said he saw something in my blood. Well, I told him, it was the arthitis I had since 9 in my knees and he said, " no."

He made me promise I would seek medical attention. But, I never felt sick and thought this man was crazy. But yet I would bruise very easily.

So, I never sought medical attention for it. I discussed with my oncologist several years after being diagnosed at age 44, the conversation I had with this other doctor when I was just 21.

I heard him groan. It was the lymphoma he saw but didn't recognize it and thought it was leukemia the sister of lymphoma.

I have 2 types of lymphoma. One is indolent which is very slow growing and the other is intermidate, which is just what you would think it. It grows faster than the indolent but not as fast as aggressive like Jackie O died from.

What spared my life was 2 things. One what he probably saw was the indolent and the intermiate had not caught on yet, plus, I was in tip-top condition, a runner which I started at age 9 for my knees.

Is it related to the Mono. Terry it is. But, I am here thankfully here and I am a fighter ( ask Orange, lol) so I will be here long enough to learn how to do a flange and glue pipes together, lol. My own dad said I was the most head-strong person he ever met. Good thing too.

In reality I have had this health problem more than half my life. I am 55 now.

I have some mileage on me due to it. I got battle scars but I am proud of them.

You need to tell your daughter Terry so she knows what to watch out for. Lumps, bumps, bruising, fatique, low-grade constant fever, loss of appetite, and if she is lucky she will have one that if it is lymphoma will send her earlier to the doctor not like me.

I am truly my oncologist's poster child, lol. He is very proud of me. Your daughter just needs to know her body and recognize potential symptoms and she will be fine. My husband always volunteered to check my body for lumps & bumps. He thought I was dumb. lol.

I am a born worrier so don't be like me, I worry too much about my kids. My advice is to always look up never down.


http://lymphoma.about.com/od/riskfactors/qt/ebvlymphoma.htm
 
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Dunbar Plumbing

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My mom got shingles the same exact time David Letterman got them.

F-n brutal as well as it struck her across the face. Sometimes the pain and misery she went through bothered me more than she ever knew, knowing how much I hated to see her suffer. She didn't deserve that.

Neurotin was mandatory for comfort in that situation. It lasts weeks most times.
 

Cookie

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I got Shingles last October and I am still getting Shingles off & on. It depends on your immunity system. Mine sucks. They aren't as bad as they were so this is now bearable but Shingles are absolutely horrible and extremely painful. I know your mom's pain. Anyone who can get the vaccine in my opinion SHOULD. Just tell the doctor if you have lymphoma or cancer, or been treated for any kind of cancer. The places like Walgreens and such may not know of this, or ask this and then... ooops. Their is to my knowledge other things too, for instance, you can't be allergic to eggs, I think and some others. If anyone knows the other things maybe, they could post them here. The other things you can't be allergic to when getting the Shingle vaccine.

I will post here a small picture of my back with shingles. This is not for the faint of heart. I can't even look at it, lol.

This should make those who can get the shot run for it.

Ask me if these hurt ...
 
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Cookie

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If you got something that looks like these, you could have Shingles. The first picture is actually from when they were drying up. The long red thing though, in the second picture about the icky looking stuff is one of my battle scars. The rest I thought at first was from a new laundry soap I started using. Not so. Shingles.

The most interesting fact is this. You get Shingles wherever you had the chicken pox at on your body. I never knew I had chicken pox so I can't say for sure at all where mine was at, I must had been very young. And, the Shingle virus, which it is, lives in the base of your spine and something activates it.
 

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Yes! My son's doctor just called and it is not mono again.
Now I can go to work in peace and not worry as much.
 
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