Fighting cancer with intestinal fortitude

The Advertiser: Fighting cancer with intestinal fortitude :


"A study published today in the Pfizer Australia Health Report reveals that embarrassment would make 60 per cent of people with bowel problems hesitate to see a doctor."

I can remember nagging someone to death who was clearly having toilet problems and didn't want to talk about it. As it turned out it was Giardiarsis which they had contracted after a long stay in a tropical climate. He was in misery and he was going to put up with it!! No...go to the doctor. I have often volunteered to go with people to the doctor if they have something they feel really uncomfortable about. At the very least I deliver them and wait in the car to hear the news. Everyone has those awful things which they don't want to face up to. My mother might have stayed alive longer had she confronted her cancer sooner. I have often wondered whether she just carried on in the hope it would go away. I have known two people who contracted bowel cancer. Once had radical surgery and has lived well and for a long time after. The other had no treatment, was 85 at the time and lived until he was 94. I think the best thing is to get it out into the open and look at the options and then some real life scenarios. People don't deal with things which are an embarrassing mystery to them. What signs? What might happen? How could you manage that doctor's trip? I am so lucky I have a doctor who takes the embarrassment out of everything and so I am never worried about asking him anything and he never treats me as "stupid". We've been through false alarms, silly carry on and serious stuff and every time he has been straight forward, friendly and can always offer me a range of options and choices and a series of ways of dealing with the practicalities of "embarrassing" conditions. I think we need to get it out of the cupboard, put it on the table and just talk about it. 60% is too high a percentage of frightened people.