Bottoms
Posted: February 20th, 2020, 9:34 am
There, I've said it. Total admiration to Julie Walters for going public about her stage three bowel cancer, which has now been fixed through a combination of chemo and surgery. Mine was just at stage one, although they spent a few months wondering whether it had reached stage two? (It hadn't.) Stage four is the one you really don't want, but Ms Walters's stage three is scary stuff too. She's done amazingly well. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-51558450
It's really good that public figures like Rod Stewart are coming out into the open about cancers in their various unmentionables, and the sooner they become mentionables, the better, because so many of them are so easily fixable. Bowel cancer is Britain's number four cancer killer (third worst in America, second worst in Australia), but cure rates are above 90% if they're found early, like mine was. (Somewhat less than that for stages three and four.)
But first we've got to get past the embarrassment stage. When I was called in for an initial endoscopy two years ago (after a routine poo test, you know the one
), I was squirming at the supposed indignity. On the one hand it was a comfort to know that only one in sixteen of these tests finds a cancer - the rest find piles or IBS or benign polyps or diverticulitis; but against that was the knowledge that one in four people who get invited for endoscopy say they won't attend. They mutter things about how they'd "rather not know", or maybe they think "God will call them when he's ready". But a lot of it is embarrassment. And that's a tragedy.
As Ms Walters says, everyone's got a bottom, and everyone knows what it does, and it's time we got over ourselves and started avoiding the subject. FWIW, I've had six of the video endoscopy procedures on the NHS now, and I haven't ever felt been made to feel embarrassed - because although these people are professionals who do bottoms all day, they are also acutely aware of their patients's sensibilities. Nor is it particularly uncomfortable, especially if you accept the sedatives they offer you, and many people don't remember anything much of the procedure afterwards. (Although a nurse did once have to chase me up the corridor, in my doped-up state, with my backside hanging out of my backless strapless gown
)
Is it messy? Nope, they get you squeaky clean from end to end by supplying half a gallon of an industrial drain cleaner. Do you fart? yes you do, but mainly because they pump you up with air so as to improve the camera's view of the proceedings. There ain't nothing that they haven't seen before, including all the jokes, but they still laugh, bless 'em.
Anyway, it ain't worth dying for. Let's get it out there that early diagnosis can fix this one. Don't let anybody you know be too scared to get checked out. Pass it on.
BJ
It's really good that public figures like Rod Stewart are coming out into the open about cancers in their various unmentionables, and the sooner they become mentionables, the better, because so many of them are so easily fixable. Bowel cancer is Britain's number four cancer killer (third worst in America, second worst in Australia), but cure rates are above 90% if they're found early, like mine was. (Somewhat less than that for stages three and four.)
But first we've got to get past the embarrassment stage. When I was called in for an initial endoscopy two years ago (after a routine poo test, you know the one
![Wink ;)](./images/smilies/icon_e_wink.gif)
As Ms Walters says, everyone's got a bottom, and everyone knows what it does, and it's time we got over ourselves and started avoiding the subject. FWIW, I've had six of the video endoscopy procedures on the NHS now, and I haven't ever felt been made to feel embarrassed - because although these people are professionals who do bottoms all day, they are also acutely aware of their patients's sensibilities. Nor is it particularly uncomfortable, especially if you accept the sedatives they offer you, and many people don't remember anything much of the procedure afterwards. (Although a nurse did once have to chase me up the corridor, in my doped-up state, with my backside hanging out of my backless strapless gown
![Laughing :lol:](./images/smilies/icon_lol.gif)
Is it messy? Nope, they get you squeaky clean from end to end by supplying half a gallon of an industrial drain cleaner. Do you fart? yes you do, but mainly because they pump you up with air so as to improve the camera's view of the proceedings. There ain't nothing that they haven't seen before, including all the jokes, but they still laugh, bless 'em.
Anyway, it ain't worth dying for. Let's get it out there that early diagnosis can fix this one. Don't let anybody you know be too scared to get checked out. Pass it on.
BJ