Connie Hall, RN, certified gastroenterology nurse at Barnes-Jewish West County Hospital, wishes people would get over the embarrassment and get a colonoscopy, because it can save their life.
Having worked in endoscopy for 25 years, first as a technician and for the last 20 as a nurse, she has seen many colonoscopies. She herself has undergone the procedure three times. She also has heard the excuses – it’s embarrassing, the prep is horrible.
“I know people think getting a colonoscopy is embarrassing,” Hall says. “But it’s also one of the most preventable cancers. What’s really embarrassing is not having the procedure done - having colorectal cancer is much worse.”
Hall and colleagues in Barnes-Jewish West County Hospital endoscopy always stress the importance of colonoscopies, but especially during March - Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month. Colorectal cancer is the second leading cause of cancer deaths but it’s also one of the most preventable.
Colonoscopy is a screening test to look for colorectal cancer. During a colonoscopy a gastroenterologist uses a flexible, hollow, lighted tube that has a tiny video camera on the end called a colonoscope to look for polyps, small growths that over time can become cancer. Patients receive medications that put them to sleep. The colonoscope is eased inside the colon and sends pictures to a TV screen.
Colorectal cancer generally develops from a benign polyp. Symptoms can include blood in stool, pain, obstruction, constipation and diarrhea. But because polyps often have no symptoms, colonoscopies are recommended.
Early stage polyps can be removed during colonoscopy. As many as 60 percent of colon cancer deaths could be prevented if everyone 50 years old or above underwent colonoscopies, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Gastroenterologists recommend you get a screening colonoscopy if you:
Hall had her first colonoscopy at age 35 because she had noticed blood in her stool. At the same time, she had two patients, aged 29 and 30, come in for colonoscopies that detected advanced colon cancer. Both had previously told a primary care physician they saw blood in their stool, but their fears were dismissed. One patient, who was pregnant at the time of her colonoscopy, died when her baby was six months old.
Hall’s first colonoscopy detected a large polyp that was not cancerous, but had the type of cells that can become cancer. Since then she has had two more colonoscopies but no polyps were found. “I might not be here today if I had put off my colonoscopy,” she says.
More than 1,000 colonoscopies are performed at BJWCH monthly. “We have a really good team of physicians, nurses and technicians,” Hall says. “We follow national standards to a T, and take time to do the procedure right. We are careful to protect patients’ privacy.”
Hall enjoys the patient contact she gets with her job. “Patients come in often in fear and dreading the procedure,” she says. “I enjoy helping keep them calm and relaxed. Then I get to see them go home. I always feel like I’m helping people have a better day.”