Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Colonoscopy?

Death certificates not only provide parental information, birth locale and dates, they also list the cause of death. A no brainer, right?  This information may mean nothing by itself.  Looking at your family tree with this information, however, can possibly provide patterns that can be helpful to you.

I recently began to experience heartburn over the course of a year with intermittent acid reflux and mentioned this to my internist at my annual physical.  Check out this family ‘health’ tree I compiled as I awaited for, not my first but second endoscopy procedure.  Each person’s name in black died from hemorrhaging ulcers and/or esophageal cancer;  names in red suffered heartburn and/or acid reflux:

                  Catherine     Andrew (siblings of ->)   Sophie    m.     Joakim

                                                                                                          ¦

Esther    John     Michael     Steven (siblings of ->)    Mary    m.    Henry*     

                                                                                                          ¦

                                                         Henry (sibling of ->)  Maryann**   m.  Robert

                                                                                                          ¦

                                                                                    Kurt***    me         Ken

 * died from pancreatic cancer                **died from colon cancer                  ***died from acute myeloid leukemia

So, Prilosec is now my best friend as my family genetics and the endoscopy confirm my stomach acid is strong and the hiatal hernia allows it to escape.  And, instead of a colonoscopy every five years (I’m not 50 yet!), those nasty little adenomatous polyps keep me coming back every two.  

While this kind of medical mapping may not be 100% accurate or predictive, it certainly reveals patterns worthy of review with your doctor!