Page 5 Screwups & Misguidance As suggested previously, physicians are not perfect, though some may pretend otherwise. It is YOUR job to find the place where your care will be the best and screwups will be least likely. After all, what physician is going to advise you to go elsewhere because he is a collosal screwup? Answer: none. So here's the list of screwups and misguidance that I experienced through my ordeal. Early Warnings It is a fact that I presented my family physician with sufficient information to either prevent my ordeal or drastically reduce its severity. Approximately 6 years prior to the cancer diagnosis, I had a physical during which I stated that I had occasional rectal bleeding. The doctor did a simple test for blood in the stool and found none, and so he decided it wasn't a problem. End of story. At the time I was relieved, because if the doctor thought it was nothing, then it must be nothing. Oops. Examining his behavior, we see an obvious problem in logic: there was no need to test for blood in stool. It was known to be present at times (I had seen in). Perhaps because I was only 40 at the time, he brushed the whole thing aside, or made the simple assumption that it was a hemorrhoid. But had he decided to get to the butt of the problem and ordered a colonoscopy (or even a simpler sigmoidoscopy), no doubt the polyp (an adenoma) from which my cancer arose would have been discovered. Yes, surgery may still have been required; however, radiation and chemo probably would have been avoided. Rectal Ultrasound During a rectal ultrasound, it feels like a basketball is being shoved up your ass. As I learned, there is more than one "probe" that can be used for this procedure. Mine started with a prostate probe, which of course was wrong. So we got to start all over a second time, and I got two butt exams for the price of one. CT Scan Radiologist The radiologist for my initial diagnostic CT scan was a local guy who overlooked 3 lesions on my liver. Fortunately these were benign. However, I consequently found myself in an MRI tube one hour prior to my first surgery, the intent being to learn whether a liver surgeon should be brought in. Fortunately this was not the case. Lesson learned: never let this particular radiologist near any of my toys.   Central Concern During this ordeal, I learned that the prospect of death isn't particularly important to me, nor should it be since it is coming for everyone. Instead, it is the quality of life that counts. When my initial diagnosis was cancer with probable permanent colostomy, I didn't really hear the cancer word. Instead it was "permanent colostomy" that rang loud and clear. Pooping Ain't Easy Anymore After your rectum is removed, and you've had chemo and radiation, it would be an absolute miracle if pooping happened nicely all the time. Don't expect a miracle. Expect difficulty, pain, bowel obstructions, and colitis. The bowel obstructions and colitis can be life-threatening, so they are certainly something to avoid. My thought regarding colitis is that your colon will no longer empty anywhere near as completely as it should, leaving poo to fester and rot and turn into colitis. After dealing with recurrent colitis for several years and simply receiving antibiotics, I prescribed something for myself that no doctor recommended. It is cheap and it is very effective. You can buy it at Walmart for about $10. It is called an enema bag. After all you've been through, you won't find this offensive or difficult at all. You simply poke a tube up your butt and up goes a bunch of water. Then wait about 10 seconds, and out comes a bunch of stubborn poo that might otherwise have taken days to find its way out. Surprise! No more colitis. Not surprisingly, the enema also cures bowel obstructions. And not surprisingly, if you have no bowel obstructions and no colitis, then the pain is gone too. So is the puking and passing out.