About 6 years ago I started finding blood in my poop, and because I’m me I ignored it and hoped it’d go away. When it hadn’t after a year I went to my GP, fortunately on that day he said he couldn’t learn anything from the finger up the bum I hadn’t told him.

So I got booked for a Colonoscopy, and beforehand they told me “don’t worry, 99% of the time it’s just haemorrhoids.” Phew! I said, and in they went with the big camera, and I watched on the screen. “Oh” said the Dr. “Oh?” I asked. “Polyps” he said. “Oh” I said.

“Don’t worry!” He said “You’re 35, and you have a good diet, we’ll get these removed and checked, but it’s very very rare in someone your age for these to be serious.” He may have given me odds around 1%, I was full of laughing gas, it was hazy.

I wasn’t worried, I went home, I got on with things, I got a letter a few weeks later and opened it, they’d tested negative for cancer, but I needed to go and see them.

Turns out they were pre-cancerous, and I’d *almost* left it too late. All because I was embarrassed I was pooping blood, and hoped it’d go away on its own.

I’m reminded of that today, I got good news and others didn’t. Someone my age didn’t, and his death has left people bereft

I’m sure he wasn’t as ignorant or silly as I was about it. I’m not any more. I have to have check-ups every 2 years. And they’re so blasé about it I don’t know why I was embarrassed.

Those Doctors aren’t on their lunch talking to colleagues going “oh god, it happened again today! I saw an arsehole!”

They’re so blasé, the mobile colonoscopy centre I last went to was in a B&Q car park in Oldham. I had to check it wasn’t a scam from a pervert with a hosepipe.