Erin’s Success Story
The Aspen Mine Center’s all-star volunteer, Erin Patterson, recently completed treatment for colorectal cancer. We are thrilled to know that she came through all of her procedures with flying colors. Erin’s experience with colon cancer should be a wakeup call to all of us.
Here’s Erin’s success story:
Hello everyone. My name is Erin Christine Patterson. I was diagnosed with Colon Cancer on February 28th 2023. I went in for a colonoscopy and they removed two polyps which they sent off to be biopsied. One of the polyps was non-cancerous and the other was cancerous. When I got my diagnosis my family and friends were there to support me through the process.
When I met my cancer doctor for the first time he was wearing a St. Louis surgeon cap. I asked him if he was a St. Louis Cardinal fan. He told us he was from St. Louis. It turns out that he went to the same college as my brother and sister-in-law.
The things that I had to get done before my surgery were a blood draw, a CT scan, an ultrasound of my thyroid and an MRI of my liver.
My parents drove from Idaho to Colorado Springs for my surgery on March 31st. I ended up having 18” of my colon removed, along with 25 lymph nodes which were sent off to be biopsied. They came back noncancerous. I want to thank everyone for their support.
Erin
The American Cancer Society’s webpage at: https://www.cancer.org/cancer/types/colon-rectal-cancer/detection-diagnosis-staging/acs-recommendations.html recommends that people at average risk of colorectal cancer start regular screening at age 45. This can be done either with a sensitive test that looks for signs of cancer in a person’s stool (a stool-based test) every year, or with an exam that looks at the colon and rectum (a visual exam) every 10 years. People who are in good health and with a life expectancy of more than 10 years should continue regular colorectal cancer screening through the age of 75.
There are some differences between these tests to consider, but the most important thing is to get screened, no matter which test you choose. Talk to your health care provider about which tests might be good options for you, and to your insurance carrier about your coverage.
