2 ‘Rather not know’ about a nagging health issue? You make my blood boil

I’VE been lucky never to have been in mortal danger, though, like most blokes, I have been an acute sufferer of white-coat phobia. Now, if it’s a medical issue and I can be tested for it, count me in.

And the more likely it is to kill me, the keener I am to find out.

So when was the epiphany? On a Monday afternoon trip to the lavatory, I glanced down and wondered what the beautiful cloud of ruby-red liquid was. That couldn’t be blood, could it? After a few shocked seconds, I had to admit it was. Something was wrong.

What I did next still surprises me. I flushed the toilet, walked purposefully into the kitchen, picked up the phone and made an appointment to see the doctor.

This was the moment I’d been dreading for 34 years – since my dad and both his brothers died of bowel cancer. Dying the same horrible death had scared me for most of my adult life.

A couple of hours later, I closed my eyes and welcomed a camera probe up my rectum.

When I woke 25 minutes later, the doctor said: ‘You did the right thing. We located two polyps and snipped them out.’ He told me that without polyps, cancer can’t grow in your colon and kill you.

If my dad and uncles had been able to benefit from this procedure 35 years ago, they would still be around today.

After all those sleepless nights asking myself ‘Would I want to know?’ the answer was deafening: ‘Yes, I bloody well would.’

The phrase ‘I’d rather not know’ now makes my blood boil.

Not knowing is not an option. It’s just a question of whether you know in time to avoid a horrible death.