ColoGuard - A Colonoscopy Alternative

Since I've wrapped up Sharon's trip and she's happily back home with her new kitties, it's onward with daily life. I had a physical "wellness" checkup with my Doctor a week or two ago, in late August. One of the things we discussed was a colon exam. I've had colonoscopies before and haven't had problems, but I had people relatively nearby who could drive me to and from. I don't have that luxury right now. The last time I had one, a friend dropped me off and DH picked me up. But instead of bringing me home, he brought me to the shop where I sat in the back room for the afternoon until closing before finally being able to return home to bed. That's unacceptable and I refuse to do that again. 

The ColoGuard exam was left on my 
front doorstep on Saturday. I would have 
preferred to have it sent to the shop, but 
apparently that wasn't an option. But, it 
wasn't stolen, so that's a plus - LOL. 

So I asked my doctor if she thought a ColoGuard test might be a reasonable option right now. After doing a quick check of my prior results, she agreed, and went ahead and ordered one for me. ColoGuard, for those who may not be aware of it, is a kit you can use to collect a fecal sample to send to a lab for testing. I received the box late last week, and plan to do the test tomorrow morning. Hopefully it will be easy and quick to do since I do have swimming tomorrow. If it takes a bit longer (on a tight schedule), I'll end up posting my blog a bit later tomorrow because I won't have the time for even a quick one. The key with the ColoGuard test is mailing it back to them within 24 hours of your actual bowel movement. Since it's a box, I'll need to take it to the Post Office, and that means Wednesday (or Friday) are my only days available. 

There are lots of rather interesting components 
to the box, and I read through the directions 
carefully. I'll read through them again tonight 
because I don't want to muck this one up. 

So if my blog is late tomorrow, it's because I'm sending a piece of me that usually goes into the sewer across the country instead. It's rather weird to think of collecting fecal matter to mail somewhere, but in this case, it's probably a really good idea. I'm hoping I have positive (no bad cells) results and can breathe a bit easier until I can get the more intense exam again late next year. 

So, I'm off to the pool. Have an excellent Tuesday and Slava Ukraini (so happy that Ukraine has some victories to spur them on). I'll be back tomorrow.