I've always been faithful to the "game plan" of preventive medicine: annual mammograms, colonoscopies (three since I was about 50), pelvics and Pap smears. Now...I'm done. Last time I had a "routine" Pap test, they found something "suspicious" which led to diagnostic surgery, which led to nothing. I think the doc had a boat payment to make. And even if that's not the case, docs these days will always, it seems, opt for the expensive investigation just to cover their a$$es. And who can blame them?

Now Medicare notifies me when I can get these tests "free." All you taxpayers can thank me for saving the government some money. More money than it should be, thanks to the soaring costs of medical care in the good ol' USA. End of rant.

Oh, I have to disagree on the comparative discomfort of a mam and a colonoscopy. That cleansing procedure is icky, and I'm not happy undergoing sedation, even if it's just the twilight kind. (You're unconscious, but not paralyzed.)

I believe sugar starvation stands in the way of cancer formation and growth. However, I'm amazed that cancer in its endless variety is still such a mystery. In the past month, I've seen cancer afflict three people I know, all of them young and two of them quickly dead. Somehow healthy habits are not always the answer. But avoiding unhealthy habits seems like the right thing to do.

As for the tests? Meh. I'm taking my chances without them.

Oh, and Costello, you're clearly taking charge of you. Don't let some doc who makes diagnoses by statistics and populations contradict your experience or make you doubt yourself.