Watch that video enough.
The day that we all waited for
after ringing that bell yesterday.
Julie Luck returned to Wfmy News 2 today.
Chances are you just watched
her right here on Wfmy News 25
but if you're just joining in,
Julie went on leave.
Of course, in January, after getting
diagnosed with stage 3A colon cancer,
she bravely went through multiple rounds of
chemo and shared her journey with all of us.
Her doctors declared her cancer free a few
weeks ago after running some blood work.
Now Julie said she was really
shocked when she got diagnosed.
Because she had no symptoms to
help you better understand the
illness and the screening process.
We have Doctor David Hiller from
Novant Health here with us today.
He's a colon and rectal surgeon and
he can talk about colon cancer,
warning signs and what you should
expect when getting checked out.
Now you can text him your questions.
Here's how you get your question
to our expert today.
It's
336-379-5775. Remember,
your questions are anonymous and
you get your question answered in
real time all right. Doctor hiller.
Thank you so much for joining us.
First and foremost, let's just
talk about who should get screened,
because I think a lot of people go.
I'm feeling pretty good.
I don't think I need that.
Absolutely hear that all the time and
a lot of people might have heard age
50 as a time to start screening for
colon cancer with the colonoscopy,
and that has been true for a long
time until about 2-3 years ago
when the US preventive Tax Task
Force American Cancer Society.
All the groups got together and
said age 45 now for everybody
without any previous history.
If you're just anyone off the street age 45,
you need to start getting screening
for colon cancer with colonoscopies.
Now the screening at 45 is that
specifically a colonoscopy,
or can it be some other kind of test?
Colonoscopies are the best because that's
how you're gonna not only detect it,
but also if it's a a polyp or
something that's precancerous,
you can treat it at the exact same spot.
There are other options,
there are some tests that look
the stool samples people can do.
One is called a fit test.
There's another one that
that called Cologuard.
That's a lot in the commercials.
Now those can give you a clue,
but then if they're positive you
need to go get a colonoscopy,
so that can be a discussion with the
doctor about what is best for you.
But traditionally,
colonoscopy is what you're going to need,
and it's something you can't really avoid.
Unfortunately,
all right. So let's then talk about it,
because when people talk about
a colonoscopy, all they just go
is right because of the prep,
usually not the actual procedure,
but the prep so. Tell us walk us
through what the prep looks like.
Yeah, there's a couple different options,
but a lot of people still think
about the one that unfortunately
we put on people for many decades.
Which is this giant jug of this
stuff that was hard to drink and and
that's mostly a thing in the past.
Now there's a couple different options,
but most of them involve some form
of laxative mixed in with the liquid
like Gatorade or water juice.
Whatever you want it to be,
something that's clear, not red.
To be able to get everything cleaned out
so that we can see everything we need
to see to make sure nothing's getting missed.
OK, so you do that prep work,
and is that something like
just the night before?
Or is it like 12 hours before?
Do you need to take the day off
beforehand before you get your
colonoscopy to start this prep?
So you can take a lot of people,
take the half day off.
Maybe you know you could start it
in the afternoon before some of it
depends on what time your procedure is.
So if you could have a morning
procedure and so you're gonna do
all of your prep the night before,
afternoon and night before you might
have an afternoon procedure and
they'll ask you to do half the night
before half early the morning of and
then stop by a certain time frame.
So you'll be given those
specific instructions,
but generally it's you know,
maybe you're starting that process 2/3.
O'clock the day before,
and then carrying on from there
all right. Now let's kind of go
down like what to expect during
like the day of the procedure.
So you get up the next morning.
Let's say you're finished with
all your stuff. What happens,
right? You finish all your stuff.
You will go to the center where you're
having your colonoscopy performed.
They're going to get you checked in.
They're going to put an IV in your
arm so they can give you medication
to sedate you so you'll have no idea
what's going on during this procedure,
but they'll keep you safe during doing so,
you get the IV. You go into the room.
After you speak with your physician
beforehand, they'll check with you.
Make sure everything's OK,
you go back, they sedate you,
the procedures performed.
Usually it takes somewhere in
the 15 to 20 minute range.
Then you're back in the room.
Afterwards, wake up within minutes.
Afterwards,
get your results before you leave.
Whoever brought you,
because you will need to ride home from
being sedated will be there with you.
Can ask questions.
You'll have paperwork to explain everything,
and then you should feel
relatively normal and OK.
The rest of the day. You're
a little groggy shortly thereafter,
we can't tell people.
Don't don't make any major
life decisions that day,
but I mean when I had mine I
was eating a cheeseburger.
You know, two hours later,
and you know, sitting at home,
so it it's right.
It's pretty quickly afterwards.
You bounce back,
OK, all right.
So we've gone over some of the basics
when we come back from the break,
we're taking your text questions.
We're also going to be looking
at some warning signs again,
you don't have to have a warning
sign to get screen once you're 45.
You should be getting screen,
but we do want to tell you
what some of the warning signs
are and answer your questions.
I'll be back after the.