So they’re gonna take out a third of my colon!

So, they’re gonna take out a third of my colon!

This has been a running joke between my wife and I since I got this news last week. I will just randomly blurt this out to get a chuckle.

Now some background and then why I am being so public with this.

I am 59 years old, and I was long overdue for a colonoscopy.  I avoided it for years because a friend of mine had to deal with complications resulting from the procedure years ago.

I’ve generally led a healthy lifestyle and never felt to be at risk.  And, in spite of being the son of a retired urologist, I had developed an allergy to medical appointments over the years, particularly hospitals.

However, my wife had been bugging me for some time, and we have good insurance through her work (fortunately!) so I had my primary care provider order up a Cologuard test.

Well, to my surprise, the Cologuard test came back positive for an abnormality.

Thus, I had to get the colonoscopy done.

A few weeks ago, I went in for this procedure.

A short time after I woke up and got dressed, the doctor sat down next to me to explain what he had found.

In the cecum, which is effectively the beginning of the large intestine, he found a lesion that was about four centimeters in size.

He explained that this was the reason for the positive Cologuard result.  He then indicated that he took a few biopsies of the lesion, but he was pretty sure I would need to have surgery to remove it.

He was unable to remove it during the colonoscopy due to its size.  Typical polyps are under one centimeter.

Naturally, I was not happy to hear this news.  Surgery?  Are you serious?

Keep in mind, I had no symptoms.

A few days later I received the results of the biopsy.

The key phrase from these results is “focal high grade dysplasia.”

This is a precancerous condition where abnormal cells are found in the colon.

Generally, when these lesions become greater than one centimeter in size, there is a good chance of cancer developing over the long run.

Mine is already four centimeters.

During our conversation I noted a bit of a sense of urgency.  He effectively said the only way to deal with this is to have it removed, and this meant a bowel resection.

He also indicated that we really don’t know if there is any cancer present, because the biopsy samples are so small.

He then referred me to a nearby surgeon with whom I met with last week.

The surgeon discussed the procedure, and why a third of my colon would need to be removed.

It’s not just a function of removing the piece where the growth is found.  They have to remove any nearby lymph nodes because when they get infected by cancer, that is when the shit hits the fan.

And, because they need to remove those, they also need to remove a blood vessel.

The removal of that blood vessel would cause other parts of the colon to die.  Thus, the need to remove a third of it and do a resection.

Once the culprit is removed, it gets sent to a pathologist for testing to determine whether the mass is actually cancerous or not.

I think I have all this right.  The procedure is known as a colectomy.

Anyhow, surgery is scheduled for December 16th, because there is no way in hell I was going to cancel my upcoming trip to Italy next month.

The surgeon was ok with that, as he said he prefers to deal with a happy patient.

Today I underwent a CT scan to make sure there are no other hot spots. I should have those results next week.

What next?

This is a major surgery that will require a good bit of recovery time.

I’ll spend a few days in the hospital, and then I just need to heal.

Those who know me know that I am quite religious about getting my ass into my garage to lift weights to stay strong.

That will be the hard part of my recovery… waiting to get back in there, knowing I am going to be much weaker than I am now.

From what I gather, it will be a couple months until I can get back to doing the basic barbell movements that are the core of my routine (squat, deadlift, bench press and press).

It is also likely that I will lose some weight… at least 5% of my bodyweight, and upwards of 10%.

For much of the year, I’ve actually been trying to lose body fat, which is why my strength numbers have not gone up.

I also deal with a back issue that prevents me from being as consistent as I’d like, and I developed a shoulder issue in late Spring that prevented me from doing much pressing until recently.

My goal between now and surgery day is to hit the gym hard (won’t be able to in Italy) to get the strength numbers as high as possible and hopefully add a little muscle and body weight.

I am a big believer in what Mark Rippetoe suggests… “the stronger you are, the harder you are to kill.”

I’m about 185 pounds as I write this, so 190 is the goal by the weekend before surgery.

I will still do some conditioning work as well to keep the heart muscle strong.

My recent numbers for the big four lifts are 240×5 on the squat, 305×5 on the deadlift, 125×5 on the press and 180×5 on the bench press.

These are all below my highs for each of the lifts, but still pretty close.

I’m also stuck on 9 pull-ups so hoping to get #10 before December 16!

I will post about the progress over the next couple months, and our trip to Italy as well.

Final thoughts

I lift weights, do cardio and try to eat right as preventive measures.  I also rarely drink alcohol these days and I’ve never been a smoker.

My primary goal is to avoid being frail just in case I live a long life.

Yet, I still have to deal with this issue.

Many people have had to deal with far worse, so I am thankful that I caught this now.

We’ve all lost friends and family to nasty diseases, so we just do not know what the future holds.

I have friends, family and acquaintances who are dealing with far worse right now.

With that said, I should’ve obviously started this process a long time ago.

While there is no guarantee that if I had gotten a colonoscopy when I turned 50 that anything would’ve shown up.

And, if it would’ve been negative then, there would be no need for a follow up for ten years.

However, it just makes sense to do what you can to take care of your health in every way possible.

If you have any questions about my surgery, my training, or just want to reach out, feel free to email me at Scott@scottallancole.com.

Thanks for reading!