One of my older brothers has finally bit the proverbial bullet and submitted to his first colonoscopy! I’m thrilled at the prospect of having my brother around a little longer because he was proactive in his health care (with a little urging from me). He didn’t have much fun prepping for the procedure, but afterwards he was relieved and happy to have done it, as was his girlfriend. He will not have to have another for three years, and he will relish those three years in the meantime.

As some of you may know I am a proponent for knowing your family’s health history and acting on it. My brothers and I have the challenge of preventing colon cancer for the rest of our lives (two of us have had the procedures before we hit the big 30) due to my father’s uncommonly young diagnosis. Luckily our dad is a survivor because he had a good doctor and reported his symptoms clearly and without shame.

My brother had two polyps removed during the short, painless probing.? His doctor, being blunt? but honest, told him that had he not acted when he did his polyps would have likely become cancer in the coming years. A sobering thought to say the least.

After giving me the highlights (he had the medical staff cracking up as he asked them if they would at least buy him a drink before he showed them his ass) and the lowlights of his day with the doctor, my brother did something that I wasn’t expecting: he thanked me. He told me that if it weren’t for me pestering him that he would have never had the procedure done and that he may have been battling cancer in five or ten years as a result. Well, he’s my brother and I love him, so I would have pestered him until it was done regardless. Nonetheless his words really got me.

Now we both have to work on our oldest brother and literally get his pasty butt to a good gastrologist!