Yearly Checklist

Well, it's that time of year again!  Time to get my yearly doctor visits and tests done and out of the way.  I had my annual mammogram last Friday, May 17th at Solis Women's Healthcare.  Since my sister just had a double mastectomy in April due to Invasive Lobular Carcinoma in one of her breasts, I was a bit more concerned about my mammogram this year than I've been in the past.  Fortunately, Solis emailed my results to me yesterday, which said that there was no breast cancer or abnormalities noted in my Mammogram!  Thank God for that!

I had a colonoscopy 3 years ago at the Ventura Endoscopy Center in Plano.  At that time they found two polyps, so my gastroenterologist Dr. Sripathi Kethu told me to come back in another three years for another one.  The three year marker just passed, so I underwent another colonoscopy on Monday at Ventura. Everybody there is very nice and very professional!  They only found a one millimeter polyp this time, so I don't have to go back for another 5 years.

The worst part of a colonoscopy is the prep for it.  One can only have clear liquids for the whole day before the procedure. It is not a regimen that provides much energy.  What's even worse is that you have to take laxative pills and also drink a powdered laxative called Miralax mixed with 64 oz. of lemon-lime Gatorade.  Although the clear liquid diet saps your energy, you will have to run to the bathroom often and  very quickly at that!

I found a very amusing but factual colonoscopy video today starring newswoman Katie Couric. Katie has dedicated her life to promoting the early detection and prevention of colorectal cancer.  Her husband Jay Monahan died from it and never had any symptoms until it was too late.   

Katie documented her colonoscopy in this video to show that it's not a terrible experience and is a very necessary step in preventing colorectal cancer.  Here is the video:

I found the part with her running in slow motion in her jammies to the bathroom in clip marker 1:00 of the video to be quite amusing!  They also play "Dream Weaver", one of my favorite songs by Gary Wright in the video for the time that she was being put to sleep for the procedure.

Thanks to Katie for her fun but informative video!

The next thing I need to do is have my yearly physical, which I've scheduled for mid-July, my yearly eye exam, and I need to go to my dermatologist to get a yearly skin cancer check and follow up on the Basal Cell Carcinoma that she found last year.

It is very important for everybody to get their medical checkups as required!  We get our cars looked at for their 10K mile checkups and above and we are more important!  For anybody reading this, please make sure that you take care of your health by getting your regular heath checkups!