Check it...
http://www.blogmaverick.com/2007/06/14/my-colonoscopy/
I dunno, the part about farting was pretty funny. Made me think about stuff though.
Last October I had a real wakeup call when I had the strange heart arrhythmia. The doctor chalked it up to caffeine, alcohol and stress, but the various tests at least gave me a lot of insight. Basically my heart is fine, blood pressure, etc., and I'm generally healthy except for needing to lose weight and drop the cholesterol a few points.
Since then, I've been making some better choices and being preventative where I can. I'm probably eating three times the fiber I used to. I even took an HIV test just so I would know for sure, even though I haven't done anything particularly risky in my sexual past. The true dieting has not gone all that well, losing only five pounds in the last two months, but I'm slowly finding the motivation to get it done. Two years ago was the start of the most impressive effort, and I can do it again.
All things considered, we dudes have it easy. Women need to start seeing the gynecologist when they're teenagers, and in their late 30's to early 40's start getting mammograms. That's pretty crazy. The worst we get is "turn your head and cough" and a probing finger.
Most people are a "pussy" when it comes to medical visits of any kind. I got some basic bloodwork done a few months ago per my mothers request. The numbers were good and I now I know where I stand.
I also didn't think they knocked out people during the procedure. Lucky Mark.
Even women don't always take the preventative measures they should, but considering my family history with cancer (both my mom and aunt had hysterectomies in their late 20's due to cancer) I was always good about getting my yearly physical. Good thing too, as I was diagnosed with a pre-cancerous lesion when I was 27 that was caught early with a pap.
My sister in law had a double mastectomy at age 34. Needless to say, that scared the crap out of me as well.
I had my first colonoscopy two years ago. The prep was worse than the procedure itself.
Guys love farting. It's almost expected of them. Women try to be more discreet just because, well, we are women and not supposed to do such things if we are to be considered "polite".
So I have to say it was great to be able to fart for an entire day, loud and long, and smile afterwards knowing I was TOLD to.