Scoping it out

So first of all, the garden is officially planted! Whoohoo! Today was finally nice enough, for once.

Second, I mentioned previously about going to see a gastroenterologist last week, and that I would go into that in a whole separate post.

Well, ladies and gents, this is that post. Aren't you excited?!? I know I am...

Suffice it to say... the appointment didn't go as I'd expected. It was just a consultation, and I fully expected that this doctor would be like all the other doctors with whom I have discussed my symptoms- he'd tell me I was fine and that we'd address that whole pesky family-history-of-colon-cancer thing at a later date- a condescending verbal pat on the head, if you will.

Nope.

Dude got right down to business, and he wasn't messing around. He said that while he doesn't think my current symptoms indicate anything serious (which I expected), the significantly early age of my dad's cancer is "deeply concerning" (uh oh).

Apparently back when my dad had cancer (1999-2000) they didn't really do genetic testing very commonly in order to determine the cause of someone's cancer- whether it be gene mutation or bad luck. Nowadays they do the genetic test almost all the time, and especially in someone who's cancer is an outlier (as my dad's was). Since there is no way to know if my dad got this test or not without some serious medical sleuthing and cyberstalking family members I haven't been in contact with in 20 years, that's a crinkle in the "plan" (I have a "plan"?...oh crap...). Because genetic-based cancers tend to be far more aggressive than 'bad luck' cancers, I may end up having to have colonoscopies done every year- rather than every five years- to stay on top of any potential changes. Lucky me.

He also started throwing out percentages, but I've chosen to block those out because they freaked be out a bit.

But the GI doc won't really know what path to take until we get the first test out of the way, so we scheduled a colonoscopy. He also scheduled an endoscopy (tube down the throat) because apparently my persistent and unexplained nausea and heartburn is also bad (um...crap) and could be a sign of celiac's disease (dammit...). So I get to drink a gallon of industrial-strength paint thinner laxatives AND have a biopsy of my duodenum.

Fun day!