Colorectal Cancer and African Americans

Yesterday, while listening to the news on the radio, I heard that colorectal cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death in America. Hearing this news struck a chord with me because last Thursday I underwent a colonoscopy to screen for polyps. Aside from having difficulty drinking the gallon of Trilyte the evening before, the procedure went smoothly and I am happy to report that I "passed" the test and should not need to take it again for five more years. However, as I have learned more about the disease, it occurred to me that this might be the appropriate vehicle to encourage everyone on this listserv who is over the age of 45 to consider getting a colonoscopy. After all, as is noted in the web article listed below:

"Colorectal cancer is the second overall cause of cancer death in the United States. According to the American Cancer Society, an estimated 145,290 new cases were diagnosed in 2005, and 56,290 deaths occurred. Both men and women can develop cancer of the colon and rectum, and their risk increases over the age of 50. African Americans are particularly affected by colorectal cancer and have a higher incidence and mortality from colon cancer than non-African Americans."

http://www.netwellness.org/healthtopics/aahealth/coloncaafricanamer.cfm

For those of you who decide to do the "wise" and "right" thing, I will say that next time I plan on beginning to drink the Trilyte at 4pm the day before instead of the 8pm that was posted on the container. I simply could not drink a full gallon of that stuff in less than four hours. Additionally, next time, I plan on getting some of the flavoring to make it more tolerable. My daughter, who is a budding pharmacist, informs me that one can get some strawberry or citrus flavoring that may make it more palatable. I intend to do that the next time. There was only so much green jello that I could eat while simultaneously trying to down the gallon of Trilyte.

As always, my friends, be at peace and here's to your health,

Everett Jenkins