Ok, so personal but an important one so please read and pass along. So last year I turned 40 and yesterday I received a gift my mother’s genes gave me. That’s right, I got my first colonoscopy! So I wanted to take an opportunity to talk about it b/c it is so important. 1/X

A lot of people delay getting a colonoscopy b/c it is a relatively invasive procedure. It is not fun. But it is also not as bad as many think it is - unpleasant but I’ve had far worse days. First is the “prep”. Your colon needs to be completely clear for the procedure. 2/X

That means the day before it’s an all clear liquid diet. I found this to be more bearable than a day of Yom Kippur fasting. You aren’t actually “hungry” because you need to drink - a *lot*. They had me do 8 oz of liquids every hour. That actually fills you up. 3/X

More it’s just that only having liquids drains your energy, so I was fatigued but nothing more than if I didn’t get much sleep the night before. Then, in the evening, you start taking laxatives. They had me do the “Miralax” method. 4/X

I assume there is some variation across doctors but mine was basically drinking a bottle of Miralax mixed in with Powerade. The taste of it was fine to me - i’ve heard others not like it but that’s probably b/c Powerade in general sucks. 5/x

More difficult is you have to drink a lot in a short time. Some people get nausea from it. I didn’t. This will cause diarrhea. No bones about it - that’s the point. If things don’t clear out quickly enough then you do more laxatives. I had a bottle of magnesium citrate. 6/X

That stuff does not taste great but down the hatch it went. After that, well, you get cleared out. I basically pulled an all-nighter. Again, nothing painful... not even much nausea. Just can’t sleep b/c of many trips to the bathroom. Unpleasant but not terrible. 7/X

Then comes the procedure. That was easy. Modern anesthesia is amazing! I felt nothing. I remember them putting the drugs in my IV and then it felt like an instant later I was awake in recovery. 8/X

Recovery itself was easy. After 15 mins or so I was sent home. Just some grogginess from the anesthesia. No stomach issues and only minor diet restrictions - treated myself to Chik-fil-a breakfast afterwards. 9/X

And good news! They found a polyp! And I’m serious, that is good news. Why? Well for starters it is small and extremely unlikely to be cancerous (biopsy comes back in a couple weeks). But it could’ve become cancer at some point. 10/X

Maybe it wouldn’t in the end. Or maybe I just gave myself an extra 10 years of life. Pretty good for one sucky day. 11/X

So don’t put off your colonoscopy. Colon cancer kills over 50,000 Americans a year, and this relatively mild procedure prevents so many of them. Recently the American Cancer Society lowered the recommended age to start at 45 years https://www.cancer.org/latest-news/american-cancer-society-updates-colorectal-cancer-screening-guideline.html 12/X

But if you have a family history of colorectal issues like me (or if you have had issues of your own) you probably will need to start earlier. Talk to your doctor about your family history (and if possible, make sure to ask your parents if you don’t know). 13/X

For me, since I did have a polyp I need to go again in 5 years. For people with no issues it’s every 10 years. After going through it, it seems like a small price to pay and I will happily do it again in 2026. So if it’s your turn, don’t delay. It may save your life. 14/x