So Why Am I More Concerned Than Ever About My Health...?

OK.... Today was definitely the most difficult--as is usual for me on RESET. But... I stuck to my guns... had my 3 shakes... 2 bars... and some steamed veggies for dinner. I actually feel good right now... but I let myself go too long before my last shake and was STARVING when I got home from work. I should have taken a bottle of water to make a shake on the road as I had errands to run before coming home...

Somehow... I mustered the will-power to not eat everything in sight... I have to admit, my mind did start making excuses... and really attempted to sabatoge my RESET plan! Fortunately, I had front-loaded some things to say to myself. Such as... "I would rather be thinner than to eat that chocolate." "I would rather be healthy than to eat that cheese." "I would rather be able to say I finished RESET successfully--especially online!" And so when my mind started going in the direction of... "well, I could just have one little piece of cheese and some crackers..." I redirected my thinking. It worked too!

Now I am going to tell you something... not for the faint of heart. It's personal. It's for your own good. And it has certainly motivated me!

Five years ago, when I turned 50, I got my first colonoscopy. Two things are important about this. First, it was the most painful, horrific, terrible medical experience I have ever had. Second, the doctor found a pre-cancerous polyp. Yowy. It was a bit scarey.

So now it's five years later. I am supposed to get another colonoscopy. I am terrified. This from a woman who is not afraid of a root canal, a woman who birthed 4 children at home, totally naturally, with long hard labors for all of them. I was supposed to go in the early fall. I cancelled 2 different appointments because I just couldn't face doing it again.

Finally, I talked to my family physician about it and about why I was putting it off. She asssured me, if I went to a different doctor that she recommended, I would have no trouble.

My appointment was in early February... I cannot believe how stressed I was! I was practically in tears telling the doctor who was to do the colonoscopy about my first experience. He assured me, that though they would not be putting me totally asleep... which is what I wanted, that I would not feel a thing.

Unbelievably... he was right! I didn't feel it! No pain! Nothing! Yeah! Unfortunately though, he found 3 small pre-cancerous polyps.

So the moral of the story? First of all... it takes 3 years for polyps to develop and 5 years for them to turn cancerous. Hmmmmm.... guess I should not put off the colonoscopy next time. And... I learned that I needed to talk over my fears with my doctor to see what other options there were. (Like a different doctor to do the colonoscopy!)

Regardless of how distasteful you find the idea of a colonoscopy... and believe me... I am with you on that... Just Do IT! It's yucky... It's a "pain in the butt..." but it's way better than being dead.

And, after doing some digging... I found that a low (healthy) fat , high fiber diet, adequate water intake, along with less stress, lots of vitamin D and A, and additional probiotics will help me to have a healthy colon!

My Health Quest now includes a clean bill of health in 3 years when I have my next colonoscopy! Do you think they will have developed something better than that awful stuff to drink (to clean out the colon) the night before???