We can disparage, but mostly, thank Hiromi Shinya of Japan, who found his way to New York in 1963 for surgical residency at Beth Israel. Amazingly enough, he invented colonoscopy there. With Hiroshi Ichikawa of Olympus, Dr. Shinya also developed the electrosurgical polypectomy snare before polyps were even linked to colon cancer.
What a life, but he also performed 20 colonoscopies/day at that hospital, and has done it approximately 370,000 times. He wrote The Enzyme Factor, where he claims that there is a miracle enzyme in your gut that, if absent, can result in cancer. Also, too, diet and lifestyle are crucial. He has been associated with Enagic Kangen Water, which is controversial, but has something to do with the benefits of alkalinity in the colon, and kind of makes sense. At the age of 84 he is still alive.
To quote Wikipedia:
Colonoscopy (/ˌkɒləˈnɒskəpi/) or coloscopy (/kəˈlɒskəpi/)[1] is the endoscopic examination of the large bowel and the distal part of the small bowel with a CCD camera or a fiber optic camera on a flexible tube passed through the anus. It can provide a visual diagnosis (e.g., ulceration, polyps) and grants the opportunity for biopsy or removal of suspected colorectal cancer lesions. Colonoscopy can remove polyps as small as one millimeter or less. Once polyps are removed, they can be studied with the aid of a microscope to determine if they are precancerous or not. It can take up to 15 years for a polyp to turn cancerous.
Why bother with a messy colonoscopy, which involves also drinking a gallon of treated water to cleanse your bowels? Colo-rectal cancer is the second leading cause of cancer deaths. Even with the availability of this exam--or maybe because of--there will be nearly 150,000 new cases of this form of cancer this year. Not a great stat, but "only" 60% of these deaths are said to be prevented with this screening. On the other hand, only 15 million colonoscopies are performed annually, so not sure what that 60% means.
So here are, potentially, the six stages of Colonoscopy to mostly prevent the Bigger C, Cancer:
Stage One: Making the big decision to go ahead with the treatment. It took me twelve years from my previous exam. One, I hated drinking all that fluid. Mostly, I'm at an age where I'd almost rather just die than know I'm dying.
Stage Two: So I finally agreed to undergo a colonoscopy. That was about two months ago, but much of the delay had to do with my 42-day trip to avoid the re-experience. There have been several nights when the prospects to come kept me somewhat awake. I thought this impending ordeal would bother me more, but, in a way, it inspired me to enjoy life a bit more. For example, eating better, for maybe this could well be the end. Two days ago I went to Vintage Cave Cafe for some Italian cuisine, Caesar salad with truffles spaghetti, a bolognese sauce on the side, and a glass of Prosecco:
For dinner I stopped by Foodland Farms to pick up an artichoke, truffles pate and prosciutto:
I had the assortment with some endive, radish, potato chips and expensive Stanford Chardonnay, which will be one of my drink additives in the next stage.
Yesterday I went to Marukai to get some wagyu beef and tuna sashimi. On the way home, I picked up a Mitsu-ken Mini Bento, which I had on my lanai.
Did you notice my calamansi tree? It has more than 50 citrus fruits.
For breakfast this morning I had miso soup, rice, eggs and some sashimi. My last lunch before I go on a liquid diet at noon will be wagyu steak, eggs, rice and sashimi. At this point no vegetables are allowed. I will then try to golf for 9 holes or so to dehydrate myself, then when I return, take a bath with some vodka and lemonade. The agony will begin with two laxative (bisacodyl) pills at 5PM, volumetric imbibition, another two pills at 1AM, drink a good part of the rest of the gallon, which could continue until some time around 4AM, when all inputs to my body stop.
I'll be using some of my favorite glasses, plus, maybe also a straw. You laugh, but I want to, as much as possible, enjoy this all. I double-checked on my computer the alcohol part, and the worry doctors have is that if you drink too much ethanol, your body will get dehydrated. Are they kidding? How can you get dehydrated by drinking a gallon of 95+% water? Some in the medical profession even okay drinking a glass of white wine or beer JUST BEFORE the procedure, which can't be right because you can regurgitate it during the procedure into your lungs. All my alcohol drinking will be terminated fully six hours before the colonoscopy.
My other concern is that I like my current gut ecosystem--maybe five pounds of microbiota--it has long kept me well. The cleansing kills most of them, and there is no certainty that the same, or better, balance will return. Looks like I'll have to re-start another family of microorganisms, perhaps 40 trillion of them. I can't believe medical science has not better researched this phase of the process.
----------------------------------------
Stage Four: The colonoscopy.
----------------------------------------
Stage Five: A visit to my doctor ten days later. I guess the lab work takes that long.
Stage Six: Hopefully, this will not be necessary, but a person who I played poker with this week said he had a colonoscopy about ten years ago. They found cancerous polyps, so they took out a portion of his large intestines. He is very healthy today. So my final end need not necessarily come in Stages 3 and 4. I'm almost looking forward to getting this out of the way for my last time.
-
No comments:
Post a Comment