colon cancer

Chew On This: Gum Helps Surgery, But Not Diets

Posted on 03/28/2013 by | Personal Health and Well-being | Comments

Bulletin Today | Personal HealthChewing gum fans won one and lost one this week: A new study found that chewing gum after colon surgery could help shorten your hospital stay. On the other hand, chewing gum failed to help dieters eat less in another study. People who have surgery for colon cancer — meaning a portion of the colon is removed —  typically spend several days in the hospital waiting for their intestines to start working again so they can eat normally. Previous studies …

Days of Laughter, Days of Grief

Posted on 03/27/2013 by | Latino Life | Comments

Personal Health | Relationships | Your LifeA lifelong friend received the worst kind of news not long ago when he was diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer and given a matter of a few months to live. It had spread to his liver and lungs, and because of its total involvement with his liver it was considered inoperable. They gave him chemo and test trials of various possible cures but nothing worked.  The “Big C,” as he put it, could not be stopped. “I am being …

Colonoscopies and Seniors: What to Do?

Posted on 03/22/2013 by | Caregiving | Comments

Caregiving | Home & Family | Personal Health | Your LifeFollowing up my last post — Learning to Say No to Doctors — I was interested to read results of a new study published by the Journal of the American Medical Association that reported up to 38 percent of colonoscopies performed on those between 76 to 85 years old (and almost 25 percent of those over 86) were potentially inappropriate under existing guidelines. I take a personal interest in this procedure because colon cancer played a significant role in my …

Free Colonoscopy Coverage Means Polyps, Too

Posted on 02/25/2013 by | Personal Health and Well-being | Comments

Bulletin Today | Personal HealthA routine colonoscopy was supposed to be free under the new health care law, but then insurers began charging if doctors found and removed a polyp during the procedure. That’s a no-no, announced the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) last week, in an effort to clear up confusion about this and other medical tests that should be considered free preventive care, the Associated Press reported. In the notice posted on the HHS website, the agency explained that “polyp …

Insurance Will Have to Pay for More Preventive Care

Posted on 02/20/2013 by | General News | Comments

Bulletin Today | Personal Health | PoliticsBy Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar of The Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The new health law requires that most insurance plans cover all costs for preventive care, including colon cancer screening. But it didn’t turn out to be that simple. Many patients ended up with a bill when the doctor performing the colonoscopy removed precancerous growths known as polyps. Why the bill? Because a preventive screening had turned into a procedure. Now the Obama administration is trying to straighten out the confusion: …

1 in 3 men too fat to see their you know what

Posted on 11/9/2012 by | Personal Health and Well-being | Comments

Bulletin Today | Personal HealthMen, when you take off your clothes and look down, can you see your, um, manhood? If you can’t, you’re too fat. That’s the crude but effective test a British health-advocacy group says can let men know they have too much dangerous belly fat. The campaign is dubbed The Big Check and is based on the group’s  survey of 1,000 British men ages 35 through 60 that found that one in three couldn’t see their genitals because the view was …

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