Glen’s story Decembeard All Decembeard Dry July Early-Onset Early-Onset Loved One Late-Onset Just after I turned 50, I got my bowel cancer screening test in the mail. I had had some symptoms decades earlier – blood in the toilet – but when my mates brought it up on the golf course back then, we’d all had that experience, so I forgot about it.Mid-thirties, same symptoms, so I got it checked out (not by colonoscopy) but the doc seemed not to be concerned. The same symptoms came and went for years, and I wasn’t at all concerned. Until I screened positive.I got a colonoscopy a few weeks later, where the doc removed a 5cm polyp among many others, calling me his ‘patient of the day’. That should have clued me in to potentially expect bad news. But it didn’t.When the doctor’s office called me early in the morning two days later, that’s when I knew. He told me the polyp was malignant cancer. My treatment was an anterior bowel resection, which through a gap in the surgeon’s calendar, happened 10 days later. It was a lot to process in a short time. Despite the doc saying early intervention stopped cancer in 95% of similar cases, I’ve had money on plenty of horses that won at 20-1.The prep for surgery scared me sh!tless. I didn’t know what would happen, or how I would emerge. The thought of possibly having a stoma wasn’t thrilling me but the outcome of not having the surgery was thrilling me much less, having seen my mother die of bowel cancer.Luckily, I didn’t need a stoma in the end and I woke up very sore, with 30cm less bowel than when I started. I went home to no operational bathrooms due to pre-planned renovations, and what we called the ‘caravan of shame’ – a portable bathroom on the front lawn.Despite three straight weeks of walking out to the caravan in pouring rain during my recovery, it went well. My lymph nodes were clear and the cancer hadn’t spread from the polyp into my bowel wall.I still have some scars, but as of last week am three years clear of cancer, with no radiation or chemo required at any point (touch wood).I still get very anxious around the time of my regular blood tests and colonoscopies. My kids will have to get regular testing from their mid-twenties, which I am so sorry to have to put them through. My one piece of advice: Ease up on the booze, lose some excess kilos, and take notice of what your family goes through and listen to the potential implications for yourself. If you have family history, get tested! If you have symptoms, get tested! Don’t put it off, and be an adult about the screening test. Published: December 23, 2024