Cancer Diary: What if you cannot have a colonoscopy?
Carl Leaver, to whom Cancer Diary and the CCC are dedicated, has a lookalike son. Their interests and behaviors are essentially the same. Carl's son CB has his same build -- except that he is a foot shorter, part of the CHARGE Syndome with which he was born.
Carl died of Cancer of Unknown Primary; however, his oncologist believed (gut instinct plus experience) that it started in the colon. Carl could have had regular colonoscopies, but he foolishly chose not to because he was super-healthy. (The only time he was sick enough to vomit was one day when he was 21.) Unfortunately, he died super-healthy. Never vomited again, ever. Never felt sick until cancer wore out his energy and his muscles and then his thinking capacity.
So, lesson learned? CB gets regular colonoscopies? His siblings do, and his brother has had some polyps removed. CB, however, cannot. As his gastroenterologist says, as a result of CHARGE Syndrome, CB has a 35% chance of dying from any procedure that requires intubation/scoping, etc., and a significantly lower chance of dying from colon cancer. That darn rock and a hard place choice.
Alternative plan? A colon-healthy diet. It may not prevent colon cancer, but it has a better chance of keeping CB alive than anything else. Working with a dietician at Stanford, CB, who has mental and physical disabilities and lives at home, has slowly (not without a lot of pushback) changed his diet. Gone is any sugar (he never liked sugar, anyway, and even as a child refused to eat candy -- not a bad thing). Gone, but never present, is alcohol, in which he never showed any interest. Curtailed are fats, salts, processed foods, and red meat. Yes, there are many foods left outside those categories!
Like his dad, he does like those cookouts with hamburgers and hot dogs, but he gets to indulge a couple of times a year only. It makes those occasions especially important -- and we make certain not to char the meat.
Of course, it is nervous-making, but it is a plan. And for now, until we know more -- and I search all the research for colon cancer all the time -- we at least know we are making a strong effort to do the best possible.
And just maybe, someday, while CB is still alive, there will be a cure or another form of detection. Fingers crossed -- hard!
For other Cancer Diary posts, click HERE.
Blog editor's note: As a memorial to Carl, and simply because it is truly needed, MSI Press is now hosting a web page, Carl's Cancer Compendium, as a one-stop starting point for all things cancer, to make it easier for those with cancer to find answers to questions that can otherwise take hours to track down on the Internet and/or from professionals. The CCC is expanded and updated weekly. As part of this effort, each week, on Monday, this blog will carry an informative, cancer-related story -- and be open to guest posts: Cancer Diary.
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