Scope, my Ass!
Please excuse me if I ramble a bit in this post. Why? Because I am currently under the influence of several psychotropic and hypnotic drugs. Now I'm not freshly out of a psych ward or anything, but I am following the advice of my doctor.
I had a colonoscopy today.
My decision to do this was certainly because of my doc, but it was also also influenced by the insistence of T, and by the fact that my friend Jazz Saxophonist Frank Morgan died needlessly due to complications from colon cancer. It is the number one health scourge against Black men, and it is completely treatable, so I decided to do right by my body and get it done. But that meant going through the "prep" on Sunday first.
I had to fast after 12:30pm, consuming nothing except for vitamin water, bottled water, chicken broth and hard candy all day. Oh, and 4 ducolax tablets and a gallon jug of Trilyte (Golytely) at 8oz every 15-20 minutes. Then I waited, and waited. Two hours later, my bowels responded...over and over and over...
It was not pretty!
By the middle of the night, thank God I was finally empty. I was dehydrated, and hungry, but I was finally preprepared for the procedure. By the time I went into the O.R. this morning, I realized that the hardest part of the deal was over. As inconvenient as it was though, I am glad that I went through it.
Colon cancer effects Black men to a higher degree because as a group, we tend to have a bit of a taboo/aversion to having someone sticking something into our rectum. Perhaps it is because some of us attach a gay-ness stigma to it (a fear that we might like it?), or the embarrassment of being in such a helpless and compromising position in front of another man, ect. It is irrational I know, but the feelings are very real. My own barber "D" who is my age, bristled last weekend when I talked to him about my plans to have it done. His doctor suggested the same thing to him, and he is decidedly NOT HAPPY about having to do it.
"Man, it just ain't natural to have some guy touchin' yo ass and stickin' something up there. My ass has a sign that says 'wrong way, do not enter'".
Yes, he knows about the reason for it, and he is getting it done, but the fact that he HAS to have it done chaps his ass (no pun intended).
As for me, I am glad I got it done. The doc found and removed 3 polyps from my colon which is a good thing. I'll get the results on those in a couple of days, but he doesn't seem worried. And now, I have no reason to be either.
I had a colonoscopy today.
My decision to do this was certainly because of my doc, but it was also also influenced by the insistence of T, and by the fact that my friend Jazz Saxophonist Frank Morgan died needlessly due to complications from colon cancer. It is the number one health scourge against Black men, and it is completely treatable, so I decided to do right by my body and get it done. But that meant going through the "prep" on Sunday first.
I had to fast after 12:30pm, consuming nothing except for vitamin water, bottled water, chicken broth and hard candy all day. Oh, and 4 ducolax tablets and a gallon jug of Trilyte (Golytely) at 8oz every 15-20 minutes. Then I waited, and waited. Two hours later, my bowels responded...over and over and over...
It was not pretty!
By the middle of the night, thank God I was finally empty. I was dehydrated, and hungry, but I was finally preprepared for the procedure. By the time I went into the O.R. this morning, I realized that the hardest part of the deal was over. As inconvenient as it was though, I am glad that I went through it.
Colon cancer effects Black men to a higher degree because as a group, we tend to have a bit of a taboo/aversion to having someone sticking something into our rectum. Perhaps it is because some of us attach a gay-ness stigma to it (a fear that we might like it?), or the embarrassment of being in such a helpless and compromising position in front of another man, ect. It is irrational I know, but the feelings are very real. My own barber "D" who is my age, bristled last weekend when I talked to him about my plans to have it done. His doctor suggested the same thing to him, and he is decidedly NOT HAPPY about having to do it.
"Man, it just ain't natural to have some guy touchin' yo ass and stickin' something up there. My ass has a sign that says 'wrong way, do not enter'".
Yes, he knows about the reason for it, and he is getting it done, but the fact that he HAS to have it done chaps his ass (no pun intended).
As for me, I am glad I got it done. The doc found and removed 3 polyps from my colon which is a good thing. I'll get the results on those in a couple of days, but he doesn't seem worried. And now, I have no reason to be either.