The Importance of Screening & Early Detection

At 53, Scott M. looks like the picture of health. He eats right, exercises regularly, doesn’t smoke and makes an honest effort to take good care of himself. 这就是为什么在50岁的时候，他并没有真正意识到要给自己安排一次结肠镜检查.

“I was really good about getting my annual physicals; my heart, my blood work and everything all looked great,” said Scott, “但我在杰克逊维尔看的初级保健医生并没有告诉我，50岁是我应该去做第一次结肠镜检查的年龄. Of course, 我们都要对自己的健康负责，我看过和读过很多关于早期检测的文章, so I really should have considered it myself, but it just wasn’t a priority.”

Two years later, Scott transitioned his care to St. 奥古斯丁和他的医生告诉他，早该做第一次结肠癌筛查了. 他给自己安排了一个约会，并忠实地完成了要求的预测试方案.

“During the procedure, they put you in sort of a twilight state. 当我醒来时，我的妻子站在那里，眼里含着泪水，我的医生看起来很严肃. I knew right away something was wrong. Turns out, the doctor had seen what he knew from experience to be cancer, and further testing confirmed that I had stage 3 colon cancer,” said Scott. “No one can know for sure, 但如果我在50岁的时候提前两年来做第一次检查，情况就很有可能是这样, 他们会看到一些癌前息肉，然后当场把它们刮掉，我也不必面对这种可怕而折磨人的癌症诊断——这是我永远不希望发生在任何人身上的事情.”

Like most people, 斯科特最初的反应是希望尽快把癌组织从体内取出来. “I just wanted it out,” he said, “and thankfully I was referred to a really great surgeon right here in town,” he continued, 在确诊后的3天内，他就在佛罗里达大学健康冰球突破平台的手术室里. 我的医生成功地通过腹腔镜切除了所有的癌组织，并把我送到肿瘤科医生那里进行下一阶段的治疗.”

Scott met next with Dr. Marc Warmuth, 他们讨论了他的选择和治疗方案，并让斯科特知道他可以在圣. Augustine. 因为他的化疗将持续六个月，住在离家近的地方是一个真正的优势.

“When it came to having surgery, 我只是想尽快完成它，甚至没有考虑到四处逛逛. 但面对6个月的化疗，我认真地考虑过看看一些知名的癌症专家. After talking with Dr. Warmuth though, and having such a great experience in surgery and as an inpatient at Flagler, I decided I would stay right here to continue my care. And I am so glad I did. It was comforting to be soclose to home - in fact, 从我的窗户可以看到佛罗里达大学健康冰球突破平台——我无法想象在其他任何地方都能得到更好的护理. From diagnosis, through treatment and recovery, everyone at the hospital was just really caring and supportive.”

Today, Scott feels cautiously optimistic about his health. 他说，整个经历使他与家人更亲近，与上帝更亲近——尽管这是他生命中最困难的时期，但也从中收获了许多积极的东西. 他分享自己的故事是为了鼓励每一个50岁的男人和女人都去做结肠镜检查.

“I’m just a good old country boy,” he says, “也许有些人甚至认为我有点像个硬汉，这里有很多像我这样的人，他们对自己说——‘我很好. I really don’t need to have any doctor messing around with me like that’. But let me tell you something. The screening test is no big deal. 做一个你可能认为有点尴尬或有侵犯性的测试，与你得癌症时必须处理的事情相比，这根本不算什么. Just man up and get the test done. You won’t be sorry. I sure wish I had done it sooner.”

Unlike Scott, Joe M. 你从小就很清楚结肠癌筛查的重要性吗. With a family history of colon cancer, Joe has been getting screenings regularly since he was in his forties. 不幸的是，在63岁时，他的筛查显示他确实患有二期结肠癌.

“当你和病人及其家人谈论他们的诊断和所有可用的治疗方法时，关注希望和康复是很重要的,” commented Joe’s gastroenterologist Stuart Soroka, MD. “Even if it’s stage 4, there is always hope, and the minute a diagnosis occurs, it’s time to focus on that. What I want to share most today though, 结肠癌是一种可预防的疾病，没有理由让任何有机会接受常规检测的人进入第四阶段还是, tragically, die of colon cancer.”

After his diagnosis, much like Scott, 乔非常专注于尽快切除癌症，并在诊断后的5天内在佛罗里达大学健康冰球突破平台接受了手术. Getting in quickly was crucial to me,” Joe said, 我所有的医生和冰球突破平台的人都帮了我很大的忙. 外科医生做了一件了不起的工作，尽管我在那里的情况很糟糕，但我对我在医院里得到的照顾感到欣喜若狂.”

A bit of a scientist, Joe did significant research about his diagnosis and, in concert with his physicians, 尽管他的癌症发现得相对较早，而且已经完全切除，但他还是决定继续化疗.

“重要的是，我的医生和护理人员真正听取了我的意见，并让我参与决策过程, which they all did,” commented Joe. “I created my own binder to track all of my appointments, conversations, information about clinical trials, my bills, 支持团体——几乎所有你能想到的——帮助我走上正轨.”

乔利用了弗拉格勒癌症教育中心提供的许多免费课程 & 她说，多方面的治疗方案是康复过程的关键组成部分.

“At Flagler, they have yoga for cancer patients, creative journaling and a whole array of other classes. 我尽可能多地参加，我认为这真的帮助我在精神上和身体上都康复了. 我还有一个很棒的妻子和一个支持我的家庭，这对我帮助很大.”

Today, 乔说，他是一个60多岁的男人最健康的人，他期待着与妻子和家人分享更多的岁月. 他仍然致力于保持警惕，照顾好自己的健康和, along with Scott Martin and Dr. Soroka encourages all the men and women in our community to do the same.

“我每天都看到病人来找我，因为他们有胃痛的症状, blood, weakness, fatigue, 原因不明的体重减轻——通常诊断为结肠癌晚期,” said Dr. Soroka. “Please, don’t wait for symptoms. 如果你的年龄在50岁或以上，还没有接受过筛查，那么就安排你的预约吧——如果你是任何年龄的人，并且有结肠癌的家族史, speak with your doctor about this today. Together, we can prevent colon cancer.”