When a colonoscopy misses cancerous polyps

[question everything]

The most recent AARP magazine has a heart breaking story by Betty Rollin. Many of us remember her from the 70s when she wrote about her breast cancer "First you Cry." Later she had a another book "Last Wish" how she helped her terminally cancer ill mother ending her life.

Now, at 86, she wrote about her 83 year old husband being diagnosed with Stage 4 colon cancer.

But he just had a colonoscopy a year and a half ago. "They missed it," said the surgeon.

After he died she found out that even a competent colonoscopist can easily miss a polyp if it is flat or has regressed into the surrounding tissue.

Kinda scary. I am due next year. My previous one, 10 years ago, I was told that i had a "boring colon."

Fingers crossed.

[JohnSJ]

1. Here is an article on this subject

https://www.ucihealth.org/blog/2017/03/flat-polyps-colonoscopy

[question everything]

2. Thank you! Important info. Will remember this when it is time for my procedure

[in2herbs]

3. I wonder if advancing age has anything to do with detecting all polyps? I am not

saying its the doctor's fault, I am just wondering what the error rate is for the senior age group as compare to younger age groups. The situation of Betty's husband is not a one-off occurrence. Less than five months after having had a clean colonoscopy my H was diagnosed with colon cancer, early stage. I thought it weird, but he liked to keep the digital pics of his colonoscopy exams and his last one does not evidence any polyps, yet within 5 months . . . .

Although I am clinically educated about all stages of colon cancer, my H's refusal to seek any treatment gave me a deeper insight into what happens at each stage more than any clinical studies. Some believe that if you let yourself die of cancer without treatment there is no pain, you just become more tired until one day you die. This is very wrong! As the cancer progresses, a person who has not received treatment suffers equally to those that have had treatment.

One should be proactive to cancer, not reactive. For what it's worth, to be proactive, I suggest you start taking CBD oil to help fight inflammation (cancer is the result of inflammation), and take enough CBD! I would also suggest taking a 1:1 tincture. This contains half THC and half CBD at bedtime. You will likely sleep through the THC effect taken at bedtime. It is the THC that kills cancer. You will need a medical card to get THC, but not CBD.

[question everything]

4. I hope that your spouse is well.

Read the above link and you realize that detecting these flat polyps is not so easy.

[in2herbs]

5. He died in June. Thanks for caring. nt

[question everything]

6. I am so sorry. Was hoping that there was a happy ending