Yum! [A serious post, actually.]

Yum, yum! What do Fleet's Phosphosoda and Jell-O have in common? Together, they are the sum-total of everything I've eaten today.

And that can mean only one thing: Colonoscopy.

I come from the royal family of colo-rectal cancer so, even though I'm more than a decade younger than most colonoscopy patients, I'll be seeing Atlantic General Hospital from a patient's point-of-view tomorrow morning.

It's not my first go-round with a colonoscopy, so I already know the preparation is the worst part of the exam. When the exam itself is underway, I'll be under the relaxing effects of Demerol.

The thing with colo-rectal cancer is that it's so deadly, but could be so easily prevented in most cases. Dad died at 57 of cancer that started in his colon after not having it checked for a number of years. Most people start screening at 50. According to this Web site -- I think it's Katie Couric's, for what that's worth -- 13,000 cases are diagnosed each year in people under 50. With numbers like that, I'm destined for a lifetime of colonoscopies.

But, with each one, I'll be a step closer to living long enough to have the next one!