Thankful Challenge - November 6

No, I'm not slacking.  I couldn't have posted my own obituary yesterday.  I have strep throat and I spent all day   yesterday with a high fever - chills and body aches so bad, I cried and just tried to sleep all day.  Hubby felt so bad for me, he even went to the drug store and got me Nyquil and throat lozenges.

I'm better today, if you can call it better.  My throat still feels like it has sandpaper in it, and my ears hurt and I've been coughing all night, but the fever is gone, and with it, the body aches.  I truly am grateful for the small things today :)

Of course, it will still be a challenging day.  I am spending today prepping for my colonoscopy.  That's right - no real food all day just to help me feel even better and lots of time on the toilet.  If it sounds like I'm complaining, I'm not.  The alternative is unthinkable.  You see, doctors have found multiple polyps on my esophagus as well as in my colon already.  So, if I did not go through this minor inconvenience, I might already be dead from colon cancer.

I may not work for the American Cancer Society anymore, but I still believe in what they do.  Screenings are the key.  And colon cancer is preventable through screenings.  Caught early enough, colon cancer does not have to be a killer.  If you think prepping for a colonscopy is tough, trying going through the treatment for colon cancer.  Not for me, thanks.  I'll go without eating for a day, let the doctors give me a nice drug tomorrow and know that I am doing everything I can to remain cancer free and healthy to live another day.

Colonoscopies are not as pretty to talk about as mammograms and we don't have a month where EVERYONE focuses on screening, but we should talk about it.  Colon Cancer is preventable and the screenings are really not that bad.  I should know.  I have a colonoscopy every year for the last five years.  And I'm still alive to talk about it.

That's something to be thankful for.