health

Colorectal cancer affects the lower part of the digestive tract. It
occurs most often in people over 50 but may develop in younger adults
with a family history of colorectal cancer. Most colorectal cancers
develop out of polyps, tissue growths that arise out of the tissue that
lines the large intestine. Most polyps are benign, but some undergo
changes in their genetic makeup that cause them to eventually become
cancerous.
Colorectal cancer usually develops over a period of several years. In
many cases the patient has no symptoms but is diagnosed as the result
of screening for the disease. About half of patients go to their doctor
because they have abdominal pain; a third notice a change in bowel
habits; and 15 percent have an obstruction (blockage) in their intestines.
In some cases these patients may notice that their bowel movements are
unusually thin in shape. As a rule, the larger the cancer and the closer it is
to the anus, the more likely the patient is to have noticeable changes in
bowel habits.

Good Grief, Charlie Brown!

Charles Schulz (1922–2000), the creator of Peanuts,
one of the most beloved comic strips of the
twentieth century, died of colon cancer only 60
days after being diagnosed with the disease in
November 1999. The diagnosis made headlines
because Schulz had originally entered the hospital
for surgery for another disorder. He announced
his retirement from cartooning on December 14
and died in his sleep on February 12, 2000.
Schulz’s mother died of cancer when he was a
young man, but he apparently was unaware of or
ignored his own increased risk of developing the
disease, as well as some early warning symptoms.
He said in a radio interview shortly after his diagnosis,
“I never dreamed that this [cancer] would
happen to me. I always had the feeling that I
would stay with the strip until I was in my early
eighties, or something like that. But all of sudden
it’s gone. I did not take it away. This has been
taken away from me.”