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 int