January 2017 brought my annual physical, mammogram and scheduling my ten year colonoscopy for early March. I am a strong proponent of following the guidelines for preventive care, so no delay in setting up my colonoscopy at Northside Forsyth Hospital. As I was with my first colonoscopy, I elected to be awake so I could observe the procedure, which removed two small polyps and one large polyp. Dr. Albert marked the site of the large polyp with two "tattoos' in the event the polyp was malignant and I would need surgery to remove surrounding colon. Friends and family all joined us in prayer as we awaited the results. I ordered a genetic test kit from Color to begin the process of identifying any genetic risk for a wide array of cancers. If anyone is interested in Genetic testing from Color, it is a simple saliva collection returned by mail and very affordable.
After a ten day wait for the pathology to be return, the call came from Dr. Albert that confirmed the polyp was malignant, but that the margins were clear, which was encouraging. Immediately our family circled the wagons, prayers were offered and our faith and trust in God to walk with us on this journey was reaffirmed. We reached out to my dear friend Nancy Paris at the Georia Center for Oncology Reaearch and Education to help us in developing our next steps, she connected us GA CORE's genetic nurse specialist Alice, medical oncologist at Piedmont.Cancer Institue and the John F. Chapman Cancer Wellness Center at Piedmont.
As we move through the process of mapping treatment plan we will use our Caring Bridge site to keep our friends and family current on journey. We covet your prayers and encouragement. We are trusting our loving Heavenly Father and hope that this trial will allow Him to be shown strong though us. All things work together for those that love the Lord and are called according to his purpose. This is an "All Thing" and so we know it is working to our good. I encourage everyone to be screened, I am the poster child for regular screening. If you are interested in assessing your own risk, the National Institute of Health has a free Online Colorectal Cancer Risk Assessment Tool at
https://www.cancer.gov/colorectalcancerrisk . The link to Color Genomics Heriditary Cancer Risk Genetic Testing is
https://www.color.com .
