MsGizmo
Explorer
First off, I'm fine. There, that's out of the way. Stage 2 colon cancer was the diagnosis. For this kind of cancer, the survival rate sits at 91%.
Second point: nothing about my cancer ties back to GLP1 use or any other peptide. Judging by how big the tumor was, it had been growing in a cancerous state for a minimum of 5 years, possibly longer. That predates even my awareness of ozempic/wegovy by a wide margin. If anything, it's far more plausible that the GLP1 slowed things down. And I don't want to hear anyone trying to pin this on vaccines or similar nonsense. My tumor would have begun as a precancerous polyp roughly 15-20 years back.
Routine testing my doctor ordered ended up saving my life. He wanted a colonguard test, so I went through with it. That test is deeply embarrassing: you basically shit in a box and mail it somewhere to be analyzed. If your doctor asks you to do it, just do it. A positive result led to a recommendation for a colonoscopy, which is another embarrassing procedure people should get if it's what they need. At that point (May 13th) I was told there was a tumor and that its size made cancer likely. A week later that became official. Then came a rapid series of appointments and tests, culminating in surgery on June 10th to remove the tumor plus a small piece of my colon. The pathology from what they took out got posted sometime today, and I read it a few hours ago. Now that my family and I have had a little celebration, I'm ready to discuss it here.
Next, something some people won't like because it brushes against politics, but I don't care. It's information that matters. The whole ordeal, colongaurd test through surgery, ran me about $1700 out of pocket, all because I have the cheapest of the cheap insurance from the ACA marketplace. That bargain plan covered over $200,000 in surgical costs. My single biggest bill is the CT scan, a little under $800, and the remaining costs are co-pays for various doctor visits. The colonoscopy and the surgery themselves cost me nothing at all. I want to formally apologize for past complaints about high insurance co-pays on the drug plan. Even then I FULLY accepted that the drug co-pays were high because of my own insurance choice, yet I still grumbled publicly. I take it all back. Every whisper of it. Thank god for my cheap insurance.
Whelp. That's how my month has gone. Right now I'm just nursing stitches from the 7 stab wounds a robot gave me and one large slice from where I was partially eviscerated. I expect a full recovery soon.
Second point: nothing about my cancer ties back to GLP1 use or any other peptide. Judging by how big the tumor was, it had been growing in a cancerous state for a minimum of 5 years, possibly longer. That predates even my awareness of ozempic/wegovy by a wide margin. If anything, it's far more plausible that the GLP1 slowed things down. And I don't want to hear anyone trying to pin this on vaccines or similar nonsense. My tumor would have begun as a precancerous polyp roughly 15-20 years back.
Routine testing my doctor ordered ended up saving my life. He wanted a colonguard test, so I went through with it. That test is deeply embarrassing: you basically shit in a box and mail it somewhere to be analyzed. If your doctor asks you to do it, just do it. A positive result led to a recommendation for a colonoscopy, which is another embarrassing procedure people should get if it's what they need. At that point (May 13th) I was told there was a tumor and that its size made cancer likely. A week later that became official. Then came a rapid series of appointments and tests, culminating in surgery on June 10th to remove the tumor plus a small piece of my colon. The pathology from what they took out got posted sometime today, and I read it a few hours ago. Now that my family and I have had a little celebration, I'm ready to discuss it here.
Next, something some people won't like because it brushes against politics, but I don't care. It's information that matters. The whole ordeal, colongaurd test through surgery, ran me about $1700 out of pocket, all because I have the cheapest of the cheap insurance from the ACA marketplace. That bargain plan covered over $200,000 in surgical costs. My single biggest bill is the CT scan, a little under $800, and the remaining costs are co-pays for various doctor visits. The colonoscopy and the surgery themselves cost me nothing at all. I want to formally apologize for past complaints about high insurance co-pays on the drug plan. Even then I FULLY accepted that the drug co-pays were high because of my own insurance choice, yet I still grumbled publicly. I take it all back. Every whisper of it. Thank god for my cheap insurance.
Whelp. That's how my month has gone. Right now I'm just nursing stitches from the 7 stab wounds a robot gave me and one large slice from where I was partially eviscerated. I expect a full recovery soon.
My late husband dealt with the same thing, and sadly he didn't do the careful checking you did.
