to box or not to box

TO BOX OR NOT TO BOX

cologuard website

i get this asked a lot from folks
to box or not to box
the box is the one advertised discreetly and funnyly on tv ads

i personally know two folks who did these
one was negative so she needs to do it again in 3 years
she had no symptoms

another was positive so she had a colonoscopy which showed she had stage 2 colon cancer
she had no symptoms

colon cancer is the fourth leading cause of cancer death 
you can check the second person off the death list
after undergoing chemo she is probably going to be cured
she will need to get colonoscopy every year for a long time

the box saved her life
so would a colonoscopy

the first person will need to get screened again in 3 yrs
had she had the gold standard colonoscopy it would be 10 years

i have had 4 colonoscopies that have been normal
my last one was two years ago
i need another one in 8 years
ill be 80 years old
i may not get another one
ill see how my health is and what the recommendations are at that time
odds are alzheimers will have taken over by then and i wont do one again

the worse is the prep the day before for the colonoscopy
i used slices of lime squeezed into the prep stuff that cut the taste some
then
i used vaseline on my booty
thanks to a nurse dc giving me good advice on this

i read where in some countries they dont use sedation
im sorry i cant imagine doing a colonoscopy without that happy juice in my vein

what would i do now
i might chose the box one and do it every 3 years understanding its not quite as good as doing the gold standard every 10 years
if you have any risk factors at all you need to do the colonoscopy not the box test

the doctor in me says do the colonoscopy 

now this above is only in folks with no symptoms and no risk factors
eg
folks with ulcerative colitis need screened every year
folks with a strong family history may need colonoscopy every 1-3 years

you have to watch the recommendations as they change

also
they now recommend a colonoscopy or box starting at 45
eg
colonoscopy at 45 55 65 75
box test at 45 48 51 54 57 60 63 66 59 72 75

thats a lot of boxes of poop to put in the mail over your lifetime
on second thought i might just do the 4 colonoscopies 

so
do the box test every 3 years starting at 45
or
do the gold standard colonoscopy every 10 years
unless of course
you are high risk for getting colon cancer

here is cologuard the box folks website linked here
here is the american cancer society website info on colon cancer screening

dont not do screening when your time comes

sorry for many of you the time to screen is now

the organicgreen doctor