Medical Tests - It's A Go

Prior to leaving on my ride I had a few medical tests/procedures which had to be completed.  These were my normally scheduled annual, semi-annual and quarterly tests.

First I had my annual colonoscopy.  For me these have been annual instead of the normal 5-10 year span between them, that's what can happen if you wait too long for your first one.  If you are over 50 or approaching 50 and have not had a colonoscopy, it is a good time to discuss with your primary care physician and get it scheduled.  It is easy to put off, there are many more pleasant things to do, however having to have colonoscopies annually and all the other procedures I have been through are not very pleasant either.... GET IT DONE.  I wear a wristband that says, "Colorectal Cancer: Preventable, Treatable, Beatable!", don't blow off the Preventable part.  I am done preaching for this post :-).  Good news my colonoscopy was good and now I am on a biannual schedule instead of annual.  YAY!!!

The next test is my semi-annual chest, abdomen and pelvic CT-scan. Fortunately this is a nice easy test, the hardest part is waiting days for the results.   Wait and waiting and waiting, the anxiety level rises as the time passes.  I should not get these on Thursdays, guaranteed an over the weekend wait.  In my case it is a wait until the next Wednesday wait when I had an appointment with my oncologist.  Did I say I hate waiting?  Yes, I am not very patient and the stress level always rises the longer I wait.  I got the results today, good news everything is fine.

The final test is a quarterly blood test.  They check my blood for several different things and indicators.  This test is also a nice easy test as they draw the blood from my port which also gets flushed at the time (an every six week requirement).  I had these done today, fortunately this one the results come back quick and they are all good.

So that means IT'S A GO.  The ride is on!!!

We start our drive to Virginia tomorrow.  Doing some sightseeing in the area before I start the ride a week from tomorrow.