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Science Forum Index » Medicine - Cancer Forum » Your butt is on the line
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| J |
 Posted: Sat Mar 01, 2008 3:52 am |
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Your butt is on the line
http://healthblog.ctv.ca/blog/_archives/2008/2/29/3552152.html
Excerpt...
It’s one of the most preventable forms of cancer. So why is it that 160
Canadians die from colon cancer every week? Maybe it’s a lack of
awareness. Or maybe worse.
Doctors say a lot of people are still embarrassed talking about the
“plumbing”, so to speak. And isn’t that a shame.
If caught early with screening, the news is very good for colon cancer
patients. About 95% of cases should result in a full recovery. But the
problem is, not enough Canadians are getting screened. And the sad result
is, nearly half of those diagnosed find out too late.
Paul Greenberg was diagnosed in 2000, after noticing some changes in his
body.
"I was very fatigued, I had bloating, and a bit of rectal bleeding,” he
says. “I didn’t want to talk about it. But if it wasn’t for the urging of
my fiancé at that point, it would have gotten to the point where it would
have spread through my body. And that would have been it.”
Thankfully, it wasn’t. Paul underwent surgery. And today, eight years
later, he’s happy to say his odds of survival are very good. But he now
takes the time to talk about it, because not enough people do.
He was diagnosed at age 39, and that underscores the fact this disease can
strike even at younger ages. It also hits home that screening is critical.
While you would think cancer strikes with unmistakable symptoms, that
isn’t always the case with colon cancer. Symptoms can be absent, or vague,
things like changes in bowel movements, tummy pain, feeling tired and/or
weight loss.
Dr. Lynn Mikula says the rates of colon cancer in Ontario are among the
highest in the world. There’s no clearcut reason. But she says too many
cancers are being detected at later stages.
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