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Over 50 - Think about it

OldDog/NewTricks

Well-known member
Not a pleasant topic but well worth considering

From: Norland, Eric
Sent: Wednesday, January 03, 2007 12:07 PM
To: Hegg, Richard; Everyone - CSREES Everyone Distribution List
Subject: RE: are you over 50 years old?

Friends,

It was Dick’s colon cancer that got me in for my first screening colonoscopy last year. Good thing I did. I had 3 more colonoscopies to remove a fairly large, and fortunately, benign but pre-cancerous, polyp.

Dick’s cancer was my saving grace.

I enthusiastically endorse and “second” what Dick has written below. If you’ve avoided the colonoscopy for whatever reason, the consequences could be dire. So… just do it!

Thanks and blessing to Dick,
-Eric

Eric R. Norland, Ph.D., CF
National Program Leader, Forest Resource Management

Mailing address:
USDA Cooperative State Research, Education and Extension Service
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From: Hegg, Richard
Sent: Wednesday, January 03, 2007 11:57 AM
To: Everyone - CSREES Everyone Distribution List
Subject: are you over 50 years old?


It has been over 2 years since I was diagnosed as having colon cancer because of a colonoscopy. I had the recommended medical procedures to correct the situation.

I want to make sure my friends who are over 50 are getting regular colonoscopies so they make sure there is no problem. Make this one of your New Year’s resolutions.

The Bad News

Colorectal cancer, otherwise known as colon cancer, is the second-leading cause of U.S. cancer deaths for men and women combined. Colorectal cancer is the third most common cancer in men and in women.
Colorectal cancer affects people of all ethnic backgrounds.
Every year, nearly 150,000 people in the U.S. are diagnosed with the disease, and nearly 60,000 die.
More than 13,000 colorectal cancer cases are diagnosed each year in people under the age of 50.
By the time symptoms occur (intestinal pain, blood in the stool), colorectal cancer has often metastasized to another organ.

The Good News

Get the test. Get the polyp. Get the cure. *
· Colorectal cancer is curable 90% of the time when detected early.
· Most of these deaths can be prevented by getting a colonoscopy at age 50, or earlier with a family history. A colonoscopy is a screening test which can be used to detect certain pre-cancerous growths, or polyps, in the colon and rectum and remove them before they ever develop into cancer.
· Everyone should be screened at age 50, even when there is no family history, since 70 to 75% of colon cancer cases fall into this category.
· The earlier colorectal cancer is detected, the more curable it is.


Colonoscopies are the gold standard for tests.
“Colonoscopy has the unique advantage among all the screening tests of usually being able to visualize the entire bowel. Colonoscopy is the gold standard for sensitivity in colorectal cancer screening, the standard by which the performance of other tests is measured,” states Robert A. Smith, M.D., Director of Cancer Screening, American Cancer Society.


**********************************************
Richard Hegg, National Program Leader
USDA-CSREES
phone 202-401-6550
fax 202-401-5179
[email protected]

U.S. Mail
Mail Stop 2220
USDA-CSREES
Washington, DC 20250-2220

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The mission of CSREES is, "To advance knowledge for agriculture, the environment, human health and well-being, and communities."
 

Judith

Well-known member
Thanks Old Dog/New Tricks, I am living proof that colon cancer is indeed everywhere. Having lost 2 uncles to it this past year alone. Both men lived very healthy, clean lifestyles and ironically both men were married in relatives. Will be interesting to see if any of my blood relatives will get it. So far no cancer of any sort in the blood related side. GET CHECKED FOLKS!!!!!!
 

IL Rancher

Well-known member
Father in law had it a few years back... Now his lifestlye and diet would have a different classification than clean, lol... Lucky for him he is clean now 7-8 years later, believe it was 99 when he was treated.
 

peg4x4

Well-known member
Judith said:
Thanks Old Dog/New Tricks, I am living proof that colon cancer is indeed everywhere. Having lost 2 uncles to it this past year alone. Both men lived very healthy, clean lifestyles and ironically both men were married in relatives. Will be interesting to see if any of my blood relatives will get it. So far no cancer of any sort in the blood related side. GET CHECKED FOLKS!!!!!!


No cancer of any kind in any of my bloodlines--SO,I get breast cancer,my daughter gets lymphoma,a cousin my age died from brain cancer(mom's side) Scary,huh..
 

Judith

Well-known member
Oh Peg that is so unfortunate. Leads me to the questions is cancer genetic like we are all being told or is it environment? Things that make you go hmmmm.
 

nr

Well-known member
Judith said:
Oh Peg that is so unfortunate. Leads me to the questions is cancer genetic like we are all being told or is it environment? Things that make you go hmmmm.
I read this in a cancer forum recently and it is of great interest to me since my sister, my mom and both grandmothers had cancer- interesting to read the doctor's response:
"Q: I am a 64 year old woman and I just found out that I have the BRCA 2 gene but I have no breast cancer. My 3 adult daughters have the gene and my sister had breast cancer at 37 and is a 22 year breast cancer survivor. All of us have had our families so we are all going to have our ovaries removed prophalactically. My 35 year old daughter was diagnosed with stage 1 breast cancer 3 months ago and had a single mastectomy and will have the other breast removed after she finishes chemo. My 38 year old daughter was diagnosed with extensive DCIS and had a double mastectomy. My 41 year old daughter has many multitudes of very small cysts and has chosen to have a double mastectomy in a few weeks prophalactically. What should I do? I have been told I have an 85% chance of getting breast cancer. Some doctors insist that the only safe way to deal with this at my age is for me to have a double mastectomy. Others have just as strongly said I should have an MRI, mammogram, ultrasound, and ductoscopy now and then 2-3 times a year for the rest of my life go in for one or more of these tests so any cancer that I might develop would be caught early. In addition to the early detection procedures they say I should take tamoxifen which should bump my chances downby 50-75%. Do you have any suggestions? And what about subcutaneous mastectomies?


doctor's answer A:

depends on how much of a risk taker you are.... remember that your risk increases in general with age. most would bite the bullet and have bilateral prophylactic mastectomy with reconstruction done since you too carry the gene. glad your family got tested.... time to take care of everyone at risk. hopefully by the time your grandchildren really have to worry about this we will have better answers and better choices. hope everyone is pursuing their options for reconstruction as well. there is a lot more available now then there used to be including diep flap-- great procedure. if you wish to come our way just call 443-287-2778. also consider contacting Mothers Supporting Daughters with Breast Cancer for yourself. www.mothersdaughters.org"
 
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