Follow Your Gut

March is Colon Cancer Awareness and I have a simple suggestion for your health awareness: Follow your gut! Stick with me as I share important information about colorectal cancer, commonly called colon cancer.

Follow Your Gut

The American Cancer Society introduced a great way to create awareness for colon cancer every spring.  The American Cancer Society selected Daffofils, lovely spring perennial, for their Hope by the Bunch campaign. This lovey delicate yellow bud represent a universal symbol of hope and life.

Wearing: Lafayette 148 NY
Wearing: Lafayette 148 NY Wool Interlock Jersey A-Line dress, J. Crew plaid wool scarf with Boden Alice High Heel. Sephora Beauty products:  YSL Vernis À Lèvres Glossy Stain Rebel Nude color and NailsInc GelEffect Convent Garden Place color.

The Hope By The Bunch is powered by 1800FLOWERS.COM, you can also contact your local branch of the American Cancer Society to purchase daffodils.  The campaign will delver thousands of yellow flowers across the country businesses, schools, organizations, Hope Lodge facilities, and other locations to raise awareness and funds for the fight against cancer.

One of the first flowers of spring, the daffodil.
One of the first flowers of spring, the daffodil.

Many of the symptoms of colon cancer can also be caused by infections, hemorrhoids, irritable bowel syndrome, or inflammatory bowel disease.

Warning Signs of Colon Cancer You Shouldn't Ignore. Image Credit: Top 10 Home Remedies.
Warning Signs of Colon Cancer You Shouldn’t Ignore. Image Credit: Top 10 Home Remedies.

Of all cancers affecting both men and women, colorectal cancer, cancer of the colon and rectum, is the second leading cancer killer in the United States, but it doesn’t have to be. Screenings are able to find precancerous polyps-abnormal growths in the colon or rectum, so they can be removed before turning into cancer.

The American Cancer Society recommends if you are 50 or older, to get screens now.  If you have a family history of colon cancer or parents with polyps remover from their colon, talk to your doctor about getting screened early.

What about the screening?

The colonoscopy lets the doctor close look at the inside of the entire colon and rectum.  The doctor is looking for polyps which could be an early sign of cancer.  Polyps are small growth that over time can become cancer.

I can attest from my first colorectal screening, May 2006, the worst part of the screening procedure is the preparation that one must drink to clean out their colon.  As for the actual procedure, you won’t remember a thing because of local anesthesia.  It sleepy and relaxed. Once colonoscopy is completed you are immediately woken up.

10 Ways to reduce Your Risk of Colon Cancer:

10 Ways to Reduce Your Risk of Colon Cancer. Image credit: Top 10 Home Remedies.
10 Ways to Reduce Your Risk of Colon Cancer. Image credit: Top 10 Home Remedies.
Super Foods For Your Colon
Super Foods For Your Colon

The American Cancer Society Hope By The Bunch runs March 1st through March 11, 2016. Follow your gut and support the American Cancer Society by purchasing daffodils to support awareness and cancer fund research. And at a minimum, get screened if you are 50 or older, and the test should be repeated every ten years. I scheduled mine for later this month.

 

Have a fabulous week?

Siggy