At the age of twenty years old, why should I get a colonoscopy? I am way too young to be even thinking about cancer. What’s the point in having a doctor perform an insanely expensive and painful screening to look for something that probably isn’t there? Just because my grandma died of colon cancer doesn’t mean that I will or that I have a legitimate chance of getting it. My risk of getting it may be higher than most, but the disease is rare enough that my elevated risk doesn’t make a difference. I am still very young and only old, wrinkly people get any type of cancer.
Not that I would know, but having a scope inserted into my rectum doesn’t sound like a pleasant experience. Not only is it dreadfully uncomfortable during the procedure, pain and bloating will follow you around for the next few hours or even days (Siegelbaum, 2006). Colonoscopy supporters argue that alternative tests are available that are less painful, but in reality, they are all still excruciatingly uncomfortable (2008, July 1). I have enough things to worry about at this point in my life and the last thing I want holding me back is the unnecessary pain that is associated with getting a pointless colonoscopy.
Along with being extremely painful, this procedure is also terribly embarrassing. I can’t even imagine being alone in a room with a male doctor having him insert objects into my rectum to find something that really isn’t going to be in there. I don’t even want to know what is inside of me and I really don’t want anybody else seeing how disgusting my colon is. Sometimes there may be more than just a doctor in the room, there could possibly be nurses and that would be even more people seeing me lying on the table helpless and in lots of pain.
I am a poor college student and these colonoscopies are not cheap by any means. They can range anywhere from $800-$2,000 (Myers, 2008). I could pay for one semester of my college with that money in the minutes it takes to perform this simple screening. This one semester of schooling will be so much more useful and helpful to me than getting this colonoscopy to look for something that is not there. I am insured, but my insurance still doesn’t cover all of the costs for this screening. They may only cover a quarter of the costs depending on how much it is. There are approximately 47 million people in the United States who are uninsured and definitely can’t afford a colonoscopy because they don’t have an insurance company to pay for the bulk of the cost (Myers, 2008).
Even if by some chance I did have colon cancer, why would I want to know about it? I would just have to accept the fact that I have cancer and would most likely die an early, painful death (2008, July 1). I would rather be happy with my life thinking that I was perfectly healthy and when the cancer finally starts to take its toll on my body, I would have lived a full and happy life. This alternative would be more favorable to discovering the cancer and having to live with the inevitable case of depression that would follow me for the rest of my life.
Not only would I be depressed due to the fact that I have cancer, I would also deprive myself of many of the things that people seek for true happiness. I would never let myself get married because I would just end up having to leave my husband when I died. Why would I want to have children and have them go through the traumatic experience of their mother dying? As you can see, the shock of discovering cancer would only cause me to lose all of the happy experiences I would have gained had I not been suffering from the depression of discovering cancer within the body that I thought was invincible.
It’s easy to see that getting a colonoscopy causes more bad than it does good, regardless of the results. Any one of these reasons alone would be enough to keep me from receiving a colonoscopy, but with all of them combined, there is absolutely no way that anyone could convince me to get this unreasonable procedure. It doesn’t make any sense for any twenty year old college student to get a screening to see if they have colon cancer. I would strongly advise anyone considering getting a colonoscopy to re-think it and not waste their time, money, and embarrassment getting this done.
Works Cited
(2008, July 1). Shedding light on colon cancer. Retrieved October 13, 2008, from Science Daily Web site: http://www.sciencedaily.com/videos/2008/0111-shedding_light_on_colon_cancer.htm
Myers, Donna (2008, July 5). Colon cancer screening for the uninsured. Retrieved October 13, 2008, from About.com:Colon Cancer Web site: http://coloncancer.about.com/od/screening/a/Uninsured.htm
Siegelbaum, Jaxson (2006). Colonoscopy. Retrieved October 13, 2008, from Jaxson Siegelbaum Gastroenterology Web site: http://www.gicare.com/pated/epdgs19.htm
***My assignment was to represent the opposition these are not my feelings or beliefs about colon cancer or receiving a colonoscopy.***
Not that I would know, but having a scope inserted into my rectum doesn’t sound like a pleasant experience. Not only is it dreadfully uncomfortable during the procedure, pain and bloating will follow you around for the next few hours or even days (Siegelbaum, 2006). Colonoscopy supporters argue that alternative tests are available that are less painful, but in reality, they are all still excruciatingly uncomfortable (2008, July 1). I have enough things to worry about at this point in my life and the last thing I want holding me back is the unnecessary pain that is associated with getting a pointless colonoscopy.
Along with being extremely painful, this procedure is also terribly embarrassing. I can’t even imagine being alone in a room with a male doctor having him insert objects into my rectum to find something that really isn’t going to be in there. I don’t even want to know what is inside of me and I really don’t want anybody else seeing how disgusting my colon is. Sometimes there may be more than just a doctor in the room, there could possibly be nurses and that would be even more people seeing me lying on the table helpless and in lots of pain.
I am a poor college student and these colonoscopies are not cheap by any means. They can range anywhere from $800-$2,000 (Myers, 2008). I could pay for one semester of my college with that money in the minutes it takes to perform this simple screening. This one semester of schooling will be so much more useful and helpful to me than getting this colonoscopy to look for something that is not there. I am insured, but my insurance still doesn’t cover all of the costs for this screening. They may only cover a quarter of the costs depending on how much it is. There are approximately 47 million people in the United States who are uninsured and definitely can’t afford a colonoscopy because they don’t have an insurance company to pay for the bulk of the cost (Myers, 2008).
Even if by some chance I did have colon cancer, why would I want to know about it? I would just have to accept the fact that I have cancer and would most likely die an early, painful death (2008, July 1). I would rather be happy with my life thinking that I was perfectly healthy and when the cancer finally starts to take its toll on my body, I would have lived a full and happy life. This alternative would be more favorable to discovering the cancer and having to live with the inevitable case of depression that would follow me for the rest of my life.
Not only would I be depressed due to the fact that I have cancer, I would also deprive myself of many of the things that people seek for true happiness. I would never let myself get married because I would just end up having to leave my husband when I died. Why would I want to have children and have them go through the traumatic experience of their mother dying? As you can see, the shock of discovering cancer would only cause me to lose all of the happy experiences I would have gained had I not been suffering from the depression of discovering cancer within the body that I thought was invincible.
It’s easy to see that getting a colonoscopy causes more bad than it does good, regardless of the results. Any one of these reasons alone would be enough to keep me from receiving a colonoscopy, but with all of them combined, there is absolutely no way that anyone could convince me to get this unreasonable procedure. It doesn’t make any sense for any twenty year old college student to get a screening to see if they have colon cancer. I would strongly advise anyone considering getting a colonoscopy to re-think it and not waste their time, money, and embarrassment getting this done.
Works Cited
(2008, July 1). Shedding light on colon cancer. Retrieved October 13, 2008, from Science Daily Web site: http://www.sciencedaily.com/videos/2008/0111-shedding_light_on_colon_cancer.htm
Myers, Donna (2008, July 5). Colon cancer screening for the uninsured. Retrieved October 13, 2008, from About.com:Colon Cancer Web site: http://coloncancer.about.com/od/screening/a/Uninsured.htm
Siegelbaum, Jaxson (2006). Colonoscopy. Retrieved October 13, 2008, from Jaxson Siegelbaum Gastroenterology Web site: http://www.gicare.com/pated/epdgs19.htm
***My assignment was to represent the opposition these are not my feelings or beliefs about colon cancer or receiving a colonoscopy.***
2 comments:
Taushie, looks like your english class is going well! You are half way through the sememster - woo hoo. I hope you are still liking it and enjoyin Emily as your teacher. You will have to tell me about your curriculumn sometime...are all your writing assignemnts required to focus on the same topic?
Wow! Nice job. FYI, Colonoscopy at age 20 and 25. One thing you could have added was the gas that they fill your intestine up with during the procedure that eventually has to come out of somewhere. Most of the time is sounds like a slow tire leak for a good 2 to 4 hours after the procedure. I think this is specifically done to humor the post op staff. That was the beginning of the loss of dignity that I once had in my life. Lol.
Love ya lots.
Wendy
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