I take pride in learning about who does what medical services where in this region, but I don’t always know history. Sometimes, patients say things that seem incredible to me. Like the other day, when someone said their last colonoscopy was done in Chillicothe, I paused for five seconds before responding. “Really?!” Having just had my second colonoscopy, I can say that it is nice to have colonoscopy across the street – but that is not reality in many places. This was a true screening colonoscopy (no symptoms), and a small polyp was removed. Some polyps will turn into cancer over time, and some already have cancer cells on them. A colonoscopy can take care of both.
On hearing that the cancer doctor was getting a colonoscopy, I heard this line: “I should get one sometime.”
Inertia is a powerful thing, and our language allows us with the “ should” to give a hat tip toward early detection (which can cure and prevent cancer) without actually doing anything. Talk is cheap. When someone says, “I will get one sometime,” then they will carve the time out of their busy schedule and actually do it.
