I turned 51 this year and was a year behind on getting the recommended procedure.
The VA can't seem to keep GI docs because they like making money in the private sector.
The standard now is VC or Virtual Colonoscopy. I watched many videos on it and it seemed pretty legit.
You clear out just like you would if you were having a traditional colonoscopy but instead of the GoPro up your ass, they do a CT scan and then have some video game type rendering that allows a virtual fly through of your colon. The results are supposedly very close to the real thing and numbers support it.
My experience:
The VC showed some polyps in one location. The VA docs sent me out to a private endoscopy clinic for the traditional colonoscopy.
That physician found there to be nothing where the VC showed lesions but he found a 6mm polyp in a totally different location, which he removed.
Assessment: If it were not for my false positive from the VC, they would have not done the real colonoscopy and therefore would have missed the 6mm polyp which if allowed to stay for the next five years (normal exam cycle) it could very well have turned into a cancer or precancerous growth.
One odd note is that the VC allows them to see a partial view of your abdomen so they can see other problems if they exist. Having said this, they reported I have my appendix, which was actually removed along with a portion of my guts when I was 12.
Take that FWIW.
Get your colonoscopy folks!!!
BTW, for all you hippies out there, the doc said that he found no pieces of steak that had been loitering in my colon for 10 years.:laughing
The VA can't seem to keep GI docs because they like making money in the private sector.
The standard now is VC or Virtual Colonoscopy. I watched many videos on it and it seemed pretty legit.
You clear out just like you would if you were having a traditional colonoscopy but instead of the GoPro up your ass, they do a CT scan and then have some video game type rendering that allows a virtual fly through of your colon. The results are supposedly very close to the real thing and numbers support it.
My experience:
The VC showed some polyps in one location. The VA docs sent me out to a private endoscopy clinic for the traditional colonoscopy.
That physician found there to be nothing where the VC showed lesions but he found a 6mm polyp in a totally different location, which he removed.
Assessment: If it were not for my false positive from the VC, they would have not done the real colonoscopy and therefore would have missed the 6mm polyp which if allowed to stay for the next five years (normal exam cycle) it could very well have turned into a cancer or precancerous growth.
One odd note is that the VC allows them to see a partial view of your abdomen so they can see other problems if they exist. Having said this, they reported I have my appendix, which was actually removed along with a portion of my guts when I was 12.
Take that FWIW.
Get your colonoscopy folks!!!
BTW, for all you hippies out there, the doc said that he found no pieces of steak that had been loitering in my colon for 10 years.:laughing
