Big girl panties! Pun not intended (or maybe it is hahaha!)

It probably seems odd and rather risky that someone with a history of cancer would not want to get this simple procedure. Judge me if you want to, but I seriously planned to put this off for as long as possible.

Attribute it to one too many people sharing their account of how bad the prep is (is it really? Or is that just one of those things people say and then repeat ad nauseum because it’s the only thing to say when colon screenings come up in conversation?).

And I’m also just generally over pretty much anything that requires sedation. It’s my prerogative, but it’s also careless.

Whyyyyyy did they have to lower the screening age to 45? An inconvenient fact I’d rather have forgotten until a quick text today implored me to take it seriously.

I had reached out to my oncologist, who, if you’ve read my blog for any length of time, you already know is the best a cancer patient could ever ask for. I don’t have a primary care physician right now, and I trust his recommendations. I also reached out to him because apparently, it’s super common for women in my age group not to have a primary care doc either. Yes, I got a few recs from friends, but for a lot of us, we just don’t have anyone yet. Brief soapbox moment here. Come on sister girls! We need to do a better job of taking care of ourselves – as great as GYNs are, they shouldn’t be our default go-to for every little thing.

Anyway, I wanted a referral that comes highly recommended, and his opinions carry a lot of weight with me. So I got two names, and I’ll be checking them out soon.

I also told him that (part of) my interest in finding a PCP is partly so that I can schedule the dreaded colonoscopy. I really don’t want to do it and shared as much.

Plus, getting cancer again would feel sort of like lightning striking twice. Surely that won’t happen, right? Riiiiiight? Only God knows for certain – and it would be utterly stupid of me to dodge simple procedures because I’m being a big ole baby and choosing ignorance and chance over being inconvenienced.

He pulled no punches with his reply.

“Do not miss the colonoscopy. There is so much colon cancer that we can barely handle it.”

Let that sink in for a moment.

I could speculate all sorts of conspiracy theory reasons as to why colon cancer is affecting more and more men and women in my age demographic, but it still wouldn’t give me a Get Out of the Procedure Free card.

The best thing I can do is suck it up buttercup, find myself a PCP where the fit feels right, and then get the darn thing scheduled.

If I can do it, so can you.

Love,

Rebecca