The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Colonoscopy: The screening that can detect and prevent cancer
(Ad) Leonel Iglesias first noticed signs of cancer while moving an air conditioning unit up the stairs last July. At 43, that diagnosis couldn’t have been farther from his mind. The heavy machinery shifted and rubbed against his abdomen hard, and from then on, it was sore.
“I was thinking it was a pinched nerve or something,” Iglesias said. The pain wrapped around his back, and his coworkers recommended a chiropractor. Weeks passed and the pain kept getting worse, but Iglesias continued to try to ignore it.
“It got to the point where I couldn’t even touch it without it hurting, but I was stubborn. I didn’t go to the doctor. I thought it would go away,” he said.
Two months later, Iglesias woke up and raced to the bathroom, but he did not make it before passing out from blood loss.
“It was like a faucet coming out; I got so lightheaded,” he said. “I was out of commission for a few hours, then I was able to shower up, and I just rested that weekend.”
Iglesias still didn’t go to the hospital. As a father of two girls who led a busy life as a taxi company mechanic, he didn’t have a lot of time to think about his symptoms. They seemed scattered, small, and unimportant — little episodes from which he would recover.
It was only when his daughter needed to go to an urgent care that Iglesias decided to get checked out — he was going to be there anyway. Plus, he’d had another blood loss incident the night before.
“They told me to go to the ER right away,” Iglesias said. “They gave me four units of blood and hospitalized me for four days.”
The diagnosis? Colon cancer.
It’s a cancer that seems out of place in a 43-yearold, but Dr. Daniel Lavy, a colon and rectal surgeon at St. Vincent’s Medical Center, says 20 percent of colon cancer diagnoses are now in people under 55. That’s 1 in 5 cases.
“Awareness is huge,” Lavy said. “A lot of younger patients don’t expect colon cancer, and the symptoms may make them a little embarrassed to admit, but they need to.”
Colon cancer is unique in that its screening test can also prevent it. A colonoscopy identifies precancerous growths called polyps, and removes them before they can progress to cancer itself. People flinch at the thought of a colonoscopy, but Lavy said it’s a minimally-invasive test that doesn’t hurt and is done while you are sleeping. He added that colonoscopies are really important in prevention and treatment.
Genetic testing is also a component in younger colon cancers. Iglesias had Lynch Syndrome, which left him susceptible to more cancer down the line.
“Lynch Syndrome is a type of genetic mutation that predisposes for many cancers,” Lavy said. “Sometimes patients are at risk for another colon cancer down the line in another part of the colon. Sometimes it can be helpful to see if they’re at risk for other cancers, like bladder cancer, pancreatic cancer, and, in females,
endometrial cancer.”
For patients with Lynch Syndrome, doctors may decide to do a total colectomy (removing the entire colon). In Iglesias’ case, he needed surgery before the results of his testing came back, so Lavy took about six inches of his colon, removing the entire tumor and multiple polyps. He didn’t need any chemotherapy afterward, but the experience was still long and exhausting.
“Having to go through something like that, and you don’t know what the results are going to be, or if you’re going to be around for Christmas — all those thoughts went through my mind,” Iglesias said. “My wife didn’t show it, she’s a strong woman, but afterwards she told me she would just break down in tears. It was very hard for her.”
Hearing the word cancer is hard at any age, but in your 40s, it hits a different note.
“When the doctor came in and told me, my heart just felt like it was going to come out of my chest,” Iglesias said. “They say you see your life in a flash, in
that one moment, and the first thing that came to my mind was my daughters, my wife, my mother, my sister. I’m surrounded by women; they are my queens.”
Iglesias’s surgery was in November, and he’s almost fully recovered now. In most cases, Lavy says the surgery is done laparoscopically and robotically.
“With a minimallyinvasive surgery, we make a couple small incisions, so recovery is a lot less,” he said. “We can send patients home within two to three days, and they’re able to do everything in their usual daily lives in one to two weeks.”
St. Vincent’s Medical Center is on the cutting edge of colon cancer research, and they approach all patients collaboratively with the most recent research at hand.
“We follow the National
Comprehensive Cancer Network guidelines,” Lavy said. “After we do the surgery, we present the case at a tumor board with surgeons, oncologists, pathologists, and radiologists. We talk about the most recent, evidencebased recommendations and the other risk factors each individual may have. And with all that, we decide what path we are going to take together”
Iglesias will now go for regular colonoscopies and upper endoscopies to screen for future cancers. He says the staff at St. Vincent’s Medical Center reassured and comforted him.
“Thank God for the team I had at the hospital. The nurses were amazing. Dr. Lavy and his whole staff were great. They all gave me information on what to do and what not to do,” he said. “Dr. Lavy was professional, loving, caring. From Day One we felt he
was a doctor who truly cares and wants to look out for the best interests of his patients.”
Iglesias’ life is now changed, not just physically but emotionally.
“It changed my way of being, opened my eyes. I don’t take any day for granted. I learned to slow down, not to try to figure everything out. If something is in my control, I’ll give it 100 percent, but if not, I won’t let it overwhelm me or get my spirit down.”
This is just one example of Hartford HealthCare St. Vincent’s Medical Center bringing more specialists and providers to the community. To view this segment, be sure to visit Hartford HealthCare St. Vincent’s Medical Center’s Facebook https:// www.facebook.com/ St.VincentsCT/ . For more information, visit hartfordhealthcare.org/ digestive.