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We have the tools to catch
and eradicate colorectal cancer, and yet only about
30% of Ontarians are using them. Surgeon Dr. Shady Ashamalla
says, this is simple terrible.
If you catch the disease early, you can change the outcome. And colorectal cancer is perfect in that
regard. It is curable if you catch it early. Cancer Care Ontario
recommends normal risk patients over 50 have a fecal occult
blood test every two years. This test checks for
warning signs in your stool and the need for more testing. It's discreet
and easy, done at home and then mailed to the lab.
You can ask your family doctor for more information.
High risk patients, or those with a first degree relative with
colorectal cancer need to talk to their family doctor about when to start
screening with a colonoscopy, a test that checks your bowel
for growths called polyps. Not every polyp that we find will
become a cancer. Very few will become a cancer. But every cancer starts
as a polyp. So if screening is available and lifesaving,
why are so few people doing it? Again, it has a stigma.
And it's something that people like to not think about.
Most people when they turn 50 don't think of themselves as old, and they're not
but that's really when screening becomes beneficial. It's something that
everyone should get gone and if everyone got it done, it wouldn't be thought of as embarassing anymore.
He says it's also important to be aware of the symptoms of colorectal cancer,
including a sudden change in bowel habits or stool consistency,
blood in the stool, unexplained abdominal pain
or an abdominal mass. If you notice these changes, call
your doctor because no amount of embarassment is worth
dying for. With Sunnyview, I'm Monica Matys.