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Just like winter couldn’t quite slip away before hammering the East Coast yet again, I can’t let March slip away without acknowledging that it’s colon cancer awareness month.

Colon cancer remains an important disease and still causes too many deaths despite many effective preventive, diagnostic and treatment advances over the course of my medical career.

Colonoscopy has become almost a punchline for a joke, yet it’s a very effective and important part of staying safe and healthy.

Are you looking forward to your next colonoscopy? More than likely, the answer is a solid “no.” You may have even put off your doctor’s recommendation to get one.

If this sounds like you, you’re not alone. The Colon Cancer Alliance (CCA) reports that 70 percent of Americans ignore colonoscopy recommendations because they think it will be unpleasant and embarrassing. For many people, just thinking about a colonoscopy is enough to make them cringe.

Colonoscopies usually fall to the bottom of peoples’ priority lists, because they think the procedure will be painful or embarrassing. But really, most people come out of a colonoscopy saying, “That wasn’t nearly as bad as I thought it would be.”

Colon cancers are the second leading cause of death due to cancer. However, when it’s caught early, colon cancer is very treatable. In fact, people with colon cancer have a 90 percent survival rate.

That’s why colonoscopies are so important; they’re the best way to catch these cancers before they become serious.

What happens during a colonoscopy

Beginning at age 50, your doctor will recommend getting a colonoscopy every five to 10 years.

A colonoscopy is a cancer screening where doctors use a thin, hollow tube with a camera and light on the end to examine the colon and rectum. During the procedure, your doctor will either put you to sleep with anesthesia or administer numbing agents so that you relax and don’t feel anything. If they find any potentially cancerous areas, they can remove them during the procedure.

Before getting a colonoscopy, follow the preparation instructions from your doctor and pharmacist. Your doctor will ask you to only drink clear liquids and take a medication to clean out your colon.

Colonoscopies usually last 10 to 40 minutes. Colonoscopies are an outpatient procedure, so once it is finished, you get to go home and relax.

Why colonoscopies aren’t as bad as you think

The hardest part of a colonoscopy may be the fasting and prep beforehand. You may want to take the day off because you’ll be in the bathroom often. While the effects of the prep medication may be unpleasant, they are not painful.

In the past, people had to drink large amounts of medication to prep for a colonoscopy. Today, the prep solutions are smaller, and some of them are pills instead of liquids.

Once you go to the doctor, they will either put you under anesthesia or give you numbing medications. Many people fall asleep during their procedure and wake up afterward. Most of the time, they don’t feel anything at all during the procedure, and some people don’t even know it’s already over.

Importantly, your doctor is a professional and is not judging your body during the procedure. The doctor is concentrating on the monitor and making sure you are given the most accurate result possible.

Testing at home

If you’re still not comfortable with getting a colonoscopy, there is another test you can do at home. These at-home tests don’t replace colonoscopies, but they can alert your doctor if there are signs of cancer.

The at-home test is a good first step to help identify abnormalities in the colon. Some at-home tests are able to detect 92 percent of colon cancers and 42 percent of high-risk pre-cancers.

Your doctor will order a test kit, and it will arrive in the mail to your home. Some of these tests have special dietary restrictions, while others do not.

Once you receive the test, you’ll need to provide a stool sample and send it to a lab.

For most at-home tests, it takes about two weeks for your results to come in. The lab will then send the results to your doctor. Your doctor will interpret the results and discuss them with you.

If the test shows anything abnormal, your doctor will recommend further testing. If you have a positive result, your doctor will perform a colonoscopy to get a full diagnosis.

If you’re interested in an at-home test, ask your doctor to order one for you.

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By Alfred Casale

To Your Health

Dr. Alfred Casale, a cardiothoracic surgeon, is Associate Chief Medical Officer for Geisinger Health and Chair of the Geisinger Cardiac Institute. Readers may write to him via [email protected].