March 17, 2025 • 30 mins
Gastroenterologist, Doctor Harry Teicher and patient Dave "Softy" Mahler join Jessamyn to give more information from two different perspectives on the importance of Colorectal Cancer Awareness.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is Jessman McIntyre, your host of Seattle Voice, your
community Voice presented by iHeartRadio in Seattle. And joining me
now is doctor Harry Teiser and my colleague Dave Softy Maler.
You've heard his voice, but he's going to be a
little bit louder today. Doctor Harry Teyser, can I just
allow you to introduce yourself to the audience?
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Certainly, And the first thing I want to say is
thank you so much to both of you for this opportunity.
This is so important and I think it's really wonderful
that you all are helping to spread the message about this.
So I can't thank you enough for myself and also
for everybody named Harry Teiser. I'm a staff gush and
trologist at Swedish Medical Center. I've been here for almost
(00:44):
ten years. I was at Highline Medical Center before that
for fifteen years. I trained at University of Washington. I
do general gashon trology kind of all things. A very
passionate about collrectal cancer prevention and I'm really hoping to
(01:04):
spread some information about, you know, why people should get
it done, address you know, fears of people getting it done,
and to show that you know, in the in the
in the whole thing. It's it's really a very very
effective way for you to prevent something bad from happening
to you.
Speaker 1 (01:22):
And March is colorrect Old Cancer Awareness Month, which is
why we are pleased to have you on today. There
is a lot of fear that comes into preventative care
treatments and I do understand them. And you know, as
we had talked off the air, I went through a
breast cancer scare twice in my life and it is
very very uncomfortable to go into those procedures to figure
(01:46):
it out.
Speaker 3 (01:47):
So what should people know about this?
Speaker 1 (01:49):
I had told you that I felt very uncomfortable for
a very short period of time and then I had
peace of mind.
Speaker 3 (01:58):
What should people know about going into get checked out?
Speaker 2 (02:01):
Okay, well, the first thing I think to know is, uh,
you know the rationale for doing this?
Speaker 4 (02:07):
Right? There?
Speaker 2 (02:07):
There are other ways for people to get checked for
cola richtal cancer. There are stool there are some stool tests.
There's X rays, which actually are even more unpleasant than
the colonoscopy. They won't tell you that because they just
don't tell you that stuff.
Speaker 3 (02:25):
But you do not.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
Exactly and and and blood tests. But but the key
point is that there's nothing as good as the colonoscopy
for detecting polyps, which are the things that become cancers
in most people. Right, these other tests are really good
at telling you maybe you don't have cancer. But the
real goal of this for most people is to find
(02:50):
the things that can be worked on and fixed so
you don't don't develop cancer. So that that's why the
colonospy is really kind of top of the line for
those things. I can talk about the stats of that
later if we need to the hardest part for most
people of this is getting ready for it. Right.
Speaker 3 (03:09):
People are like, I've heard process yeah for a.
Speaker 2 (03:13):
Day, you know, and then you have to do the
prep and the prep kind of sucks, you know. And
and the number one prep is actually called go lightly
like I don't know who marketed that with that name,
but I think they should cant from any marketing position.
Speaker 1 (03:32):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (03:33):
And it's a lot, it's it's a lot of stuff
to drink. It's really really hard. People get kind of
sick to their stomach. There's there's different preps now that
are I'm not going to say better because that's misleading.
I'm going to say less bad, like they should be
called sucks lessing. Yeah. Yeah, So there's things with that,
(03:56):
you know, smaller amounts of liquid, and there's some pills,
and there's different iteration and so, I mean, nothing's fun,
but you know, it's hard to not eat for a
day and it's hard to you know, do all this stuff.
But you know, the way I kind of try to
approach to people, I'm like, it's one day, you know,
you can do something that's not so much fun for
(04:17):
one day probably, right, right, And then when you get
when you get when you get to the procedure, we
have an you know, an anti caesiologist. You know, for
most people, you know, you get a little bit of medicine,
you take a really nice nap. Most people don't feel
a thing.
Speaker 1 (04:36):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (04:36):
Some people actually do this without sedation at all. I've
actually had this on myself with those sedation. I'm a
proponent of that, uh, that not everybody needs sedation, but
you know, ninety nine point nine percent of people are
going to have the station. That's totally fine, And the
(04:57):
only people who really get un comfortable the people who
actually don't have the I don't have sedation. But even then,
even they do really really well. So you know, most people,
they get a little medicine, they go out, we do,
We do our procedure, which for most people takes twenty minutes,
sometimes a little longer if you have you know, polyps
or something else. And then you you know, you go
(05:17):
to the recovery, you wake up, you get out of there.
Most people feel great because you wake up really quickly.
You had maybe had a nice dream about something fun,
like you went somewhere. Maybe you didn't the whole the
whole thing from the time you walk into the time
you walk out is for most people like two and
a half hours.
Speaker 1 (05:37):
That's so that's a decent amount of time. You know,
when I get my mammograms and everything very uncomfortable. That's
not a sedation situation. However, the peace of mind that
I leave with after knowing that I got checked out
is the biggest benefit. Again, Doctor Harry Tyser joining me,
and we have a patient of yours on the line,
my colleague Dave Softy Muller, and I would like to
(05:59):
hear what your experience was like.
Speaker 3 (06:01):
Mister Muller.
Speaker 5 (06:03):
Yeah, first of all, imagine being the doctor that did
my colonoscopy.
Speaker 3 (06:07):
Did you find your head up there.
Speaker 6 (06:08):
Yeah, maybe potentially.
Speaker 5 (06:10):
I mean, people have accused me of having my head
up my butt, so I would not be surprised if
he did find it up there.
Speaker 6 (06:15):
But I mean, out of all the accomplishments that.
Speaker 5 (06:17):
You've had in your career, doctor, uh, being a husky
certainly is up there. And by the way, you're talking
to a cougar and Jessamine, so just be aware of that.
Speaker 1 (06:25):
We can unite over colorrectal cancer awareness conject.
Speaker 6 (06:28):
That's fine, that's fine. But yeah, I mean, I but again,
I mean, you know, doing doing.
Speaker 5 (06:33):
Softies colonoscopy has got to be up there on the
list of all the great accomplishments that you've done in
the medical field.
Speaker 6 (06:39):
But I mean, look, I had a.
Speaker 2 (06:41):
Great life, not not medical field.
Speaker 6 (06:44):
There you go, there you go, I had.
Speaker 5 (06:46):
I had actually a great experience on the day of
the procedure, no problems. I mean, you know, I remember
Gina dropping me off at the at the hospital you
know over there on on Capitol Hill, I think is
where you were, doctor, And you know, she dropped me
off and waited in the parking lot and was actually
shocked at how quickly she got the phone call that
I was ready to go home. So the procedure itself
(07:09):
was like doctor said, just you know, just nothing. I mean,
you go in, they put yonder, you know. Harry asked
me what kind of music I liked. I think I
said some ACDC starts blaring a little back in black
and in the operating room, and then the next thing
I woke up, I was ready to go home. So
we actually had a great time on procedure day itself.
You know, look when you've never done it, and obviously
(07:30):
I'll do this again at some point in my life.
I'm fifty two in August, so I've got a few
years before, you know, round two's coming up. Obviously, after
a clean bill of health after round one, round two
is not going to be so daunting because now I
know what to expect. I mean, it is a little
bit overwhelming to drink that much and put that much
fluid in your body and then all of it leaves
your body.
Speaker 6 (07:51):
And what I found, and I don't know how.
Speaker 5 (07:53):
Much of this is being talked about, doctor, that you
got to put that fluid back in at some point,
right because you're getting rid of everything in your body.
And I went to work. I think it was the
next day, and I found myself to be severely dehydrated.
Actually went home, it was just feeling terrible. I had
to take a couple of days off from work because
I did not do a good enough job of replacing
the fluids in my body that were lost, you know,
(08:14):
before the cold oscopy procedure itself. So if there's one
thing I would tell people, number one, don't don't be nervous.
It's again on on procedure day. It's not a big deal.
Speaker 1 (08:25):
Uh.
Speaker 5 (08:25):
Drinking the fluid is a little bit daunting and saying
in in some ways even challenging because, let's face it,
maybe outside of a couple of you know, moments in
college when you're not thinking properly, we haven't put that
much fluid in our system in a long, long time, right, so.
Speaker 6 (08:41):
It is a little bit overwhelming. But the procedure itself
is nothing.
Speaker 5 (08:44):
I would just tell people to make sure you drink
plenty after because you're going to find yourself dehydrated the
way I was. But I'm glad I did it, and
I'm glad that you brought up all these other options
that are you know, these fads on the internet. You know,
you poop in a box and you send it in
the mail. I mean going in and actually getting somebody
to take a look at what's going on. I don't
(09:04):
think can replace anything else. It's the best way to go.
It's the best way to get the clearest answer and
to get the biggest and best peace of mind. So
I'm glad I did it, and I'm actually glad that
Harry was the one to do it because he actually
kind of made the procedure fun if you can believe that.
Speaker 1 (09:21):
Well, well, I won't go into details on that, but Harry,
doctor Tysher, thank you again for joining us here. And
it's really good to get a patient perspective, the first
hand perspective of it. I think that there is a
misperception of the people that should be doing this because
it is focused on men quite a bit, and women
also have I don't know the stats on it, but
(09:45):
just as much a chance of having an issue in there.
Can you talk about how the dichotomy of men and
women who can be affected by colarectical cancer can be
and who should get it and when should women get it? Right?
Speaker 2 (10:00):
Well, so it's a great question. So this is a
really common cancer both in men and women. It's the
corectal cancer is the third most common cancer both in
men and women. It's the second most common cause of
cancer deaths in men and women. And I think people
are surprised when you hear that number, because people hear about,
you know, lung cancer and pancreatic cancer, and you know,
(10:22):
and breast cancer, right, they get a lot more play.
But this is, this is super common, and like I said,
it's it's super preventable. And I'll talk about you know,
some of the statistics about that later. What we're finding, unfortunately,
over time, is that the the it's the total incidance
(10:43):
of corectal cancer in people. We used to just think
of this as kind of like an old person disease, right,
you know, sixty sixty five to seventy, right, the screening
guidelines have now come down to forty five for an
averageist person. And when is an averageist person? And this
is men and women together, Okay, an average an average
(11:04):
risk person is someone who just who has no family
history of colon cancer, you know, who doesn't have any
family history of polyps or other you know, inflammatory diseases.
So it just does kind of like your you know,
your routine screening, like you said, your mammogram, your PSA
for your PROS state, you know, skin exams, I mean,
(11:25):
all all that other stuff. The age came down from
fifty to forty five. I wonder, given the given the
data that shows that this is actually the highest rate
of increases actually even in younger people, like we're seeing
people who have colon cancer in their twenties and thirties.
(11:46):
It's not the highest total number, but if you actually
look at the incidents rates over time, the twenty and
thirty year olds are the ones who are the highest
rising incidents of this. For no one really knows why.
There's all kinds of you know, suppositions, why you know it?
Is it obesity? Is it? Is it diet?
Speaker 3 (12:04):
Is it?
Speaker 6 (12:06):
In?
Speaker 2 (12:06):
One knows, but it's but it's kind of scary.
Speaker 4 (12:07):
Actually, So no, no, yeah, yeah, So I wonder even
down the road, if that number is not going to
come down to forty So that so I said, So,
I said, if you're forty.
Speaker 2 (12:19):
Five, if you've if you've never had this done right,
and you you should, you should get this done. A
lot of people don't know their family history. Uh if
not something that comes up a lot like Thanksgiving and
the family conversations and stuff. Yeah, people want to talk
about this stuff, right, That's completely understandable. But yeah, it's
(12:41):
super important for men and women to get checked. It
doesn't it doesn't play any favorites.
Speaker 3 (12:47):
Well, yeah, I was I was going to ask you.
Speaker 1 (12:49):
My maternal grandfather passed away from colon cancer actually, and
it's known as a very treatable disease. So let's say
the treatment doesn't go the way that people were hoping
for a clearhead, you know, where they actually have to
do something about it.
Speaker 3 (13:06):
What's the next step.
Speaker 2 (13:08):
Well, the next step is if you find something, if
you find a cancer, right, the next step is you
have to stage the cancer. And what that means is
you have to determine is the cancer just localized to
that little part of your colon or is it spread
to other areas like your livery lung. As you do
(13:28):
scans and things like that, most of these cancers are
caught early. And you know, I would say most of
the people I take care of, you know, have surgery,
which you know, it's scary and surgery is hard for
a lot of people to contemplate. But a lot of
people can get just the little section taken out and
then they'll see the oncologists probably do some other treatments,
(13:50):
you know, chemotherapy and stuff. But like I said, if
you catch this early, your chances are survival are really, really,
really good. The key is, like anything else, is liketching
it early. And if you make sure you get screened
on time, that's a good thing. If you have any symptoms,
you really need to bring these up to your practitioner.
Speaker 4 (14:11):
Right.
Speaker 2 (14:12):
It used to be just like well I saw a
little bit of blood, like I'm just going to kind
of blow that off, you know, like hopefully I hope
that goes away, right, which completely are like yeah, of course,
because it's.
Speaker 3 (14:23):
A lot of walk it off, right, a lot.
Speaker 2 (14:25):
A lot of walk it off, right, But especially now,
like I said, because of the rising instance of younger
people and and the fact, like I said, that you
know you can't you can find it and fix it
for you know a lot of people. It's it's super
super important. You know, we have you know, wonderful surgeons here.
There's wonderful surgeons on college all over the area right
(14:47):
who have a lot of experience in this. But you know,
the key is to go and go and get checked
and and do not be embarrassed. Uh. Well, it's easy
to say to not be embarrassed, but try to not
be embarrassed for something like this. Right, if you're going
in and you have this done and you have you know,
AVERAGERSK and everything's fine, right, you get you get ten
(15:11):
year peace of mind?
Speaker 3 (15:12):
Yes, right.
Speaker 2 (15:13):
There is no other test that we could do medically.
There's no blood test or X ray or mammogram or
whatever that can give you that peace of mind. So yeah,
like I said, it's hard to do, and it's but
when you come out of it, you know it's fine.
Even if you find polyps and you take those out,
(15:33):
you know you're still good for you know, three five
years or whatever, seven years depending on kind of what's fine.
So it still gives you peace of mind. But yeah,
the only way to know for most people is to
actually actually look because you know, a lot of people
don't have symptoms.
Speaker 3 (15:48):
Well that what are the symptoms people should look for?
Speaker 2 (15:51):
Okay, Well, the symptoms that people should look for are,
you know, if they have blood in their stool, if
they have like a really uh and I'm sorry you're
gonna get into some terms that you know, no one
likes talking about these words, but I don't mind.
Speaker 3 (16:07):
You gave fire warnings, so we're all good.
Speaker 2 (16:10):
Like a sudden change of your bowel habits or you have,
you know, for example, like lower abdominal pain and losing
weight unintentionally. You know, those are things. If something's just different, right,
you really should brings to someone's attention.
Speaker 4 (16:30):
You know.
Speaker 2 (16:31):
You know. Unfortunately, though, you know, a lot of these
cancers don't have any symptoms.
Speaker 4 (16:36):
Right.
Speaker 2 (16:37):
We're finding now that the highest rising types of cancers
are those on the There's there's a left side which
is kind of closer to the end, and a right side,
which is kind of uh so that's kind of the terminology, right,
there's more kind of right sided cancers with these are
so called flat polyps. And because they're okated far away
(17:00):
from where you you know, pooh, you don't, people won't
have blood or something, right, okay, a little anemic maybe,
you know.
Speaker 6 (17:08):
So you know.
Speaker 2 (17:10):
So that's another reason why you know this is good
to think about, is because there's going to be a
lot of people who we diagnose with this or the
poly ups. Right there are the pre cancerous ones that
will have no symptoms of all.
Speaker 3 (17:26):
Thank you very much.
Speaker 1 (17:27):
I just think it's good for not only people to
get checked out but know what to look for should
they get checked out. But also if you're completely healthy,
go get checked out regardless.
Speaker 2 (17:38):
The other thing I've just mentioned too is, you know,
it's also people are scared about the complication rates. I
just want to throw that out there. You know a
lot of people know someone who had a who had
an injury or what's called a perforation, Right, you have
a tear that happens or bleeding that happens after you
take a poll up off, and you know that's something
that you know sometimes can just be fixed medically or surgery.
(18:01):
But the chances of complications with this, especially with people
who do this a lot, are really, really really low,
anywhere from you know, one in one thousand to one
in ten thousand of people colon Auspy's that people have perforations,
the bleeding rigged, or you know, probably just you know,
one in a few hundred. I personally always divulge to
(18:24):
people my own complication rates, and I've been doing this
for you know, almost over twenty five years, and my
complication rate is about one in like fifteen thousand.
Speaker 1 (18:37):
For wow, perfect all right, so if you need this done,
go to doctor Harry Tyser.
Speaker 4 (18:42):
Well.
Speaker 2 (18:42):
Well, but the other thing too is that people should
not feel embarrassed about asking who's doing this for them, like.
Speaker 3 (18:51):
Oh, you know your doctors? Yeah, yeah, like you know.
Speaker 2 (18:55):
And just say, well, you know what, you know, what's
your experience, like how long you've been doing this us?
How many of these do you do? At your complication rate?
And if if someone just says, oh, I'm fuck you know,
I'm fine, go see someone else. I just just the
way I am. Like, if if you're not going to
talk about what could go wrong honestly to somebody, then
(19:18):
I don't want to deal with you, and no one
should deal with someone like that.
Speaker 3 (19:21):
That is really really good advice.
Speaker 1 (19:22):
And I know that distrust in the medical community is
an unfortunate preventative thing that happens for people to actually
seek what they truly need.
Speaker 3 (19:31):
Doctor Harry Tyser, thank you so much.
Speaker 1 (19:33):
And before we let my colleague Dave Softie Mull or
your own patient go, uh, Softie, what was it that
drove you to go see doctor Tyser in the first place.
Speaker 6 (19:43):
I just my insurance pointed me to Swedish Hospital.
Speaker 1 (19:47):
With you.
Speaker 6 (19:48):
I didn't have much of a choice. But now that,
I mean, that's good.
Speaker 5 (19:51):
That's actually good information to kind of seek out the
right doctors and all that stuff. And uh, I had
no idea that your that your hit rate was that good.
I mean, my god, the owners should sign you for
crying out loud with that kind of batting average man.
So no, I just think it's important to get this done.
You know, there's nothing to be embarrassed about. Everybody was
born with a colon, obviously, so we all have the
(20:13):
same potential.
Speaker 6 (20:14):
Scare.
Speaker 5 (20:14):
They all have the same potential as you, and as
all of us get older, we're all gonna have to
deal with the same kind of stuff. And I was
just talking to my carpet cleaner, by the way, Harry,
he's forty six years old, wants to know if you
do a friends and family discount, if somebody can mention
my name with you.
Speaker 2 (20:29):
You know, that's interesting. We're talking about that kind of
stuff right now with the higher ups. We're talking about
punch cards, We're.
Speaker 6 (20:35):
Talking about all kinds of stuff.
Speaker 2 (20:37):
So yeah, that's that's good. I will throw that into
the mix. And just to just to get back to
your manners thing with your hit rate. Actually played against
the Poto in high school.
Speaker 6 (20:47):
Wow, And I.
Speaker 2 (20:49):
Actually I own that guy. So he was a pitcher
and his team was better than us. But I mean
he couldn't handle me as a hitter.
Speaker 6 (20:56):
So it's all right. Well, next time we see him,
we'll be sure and bring that up. I'm sure you
will lie.
Speaker 2 (21:00):
You will not remember that. I am sure at Paul,
But Tom's Turban North. I think that's where he went.
He was really good.
Speaker 6 (21:05):
There you go, there you go.
Speaker 5 (21:07):
Yeah, Well listen, Justinn, this is really important and thanks
for having me on. And I can't recommend doctor Tycher enough.
He was really fun to work with and and all
that stuff. And again, if just the one piece of
advice I would offer is just make sure when you're
done that you start putting those fluids back in your body.
Speaker 6 (21:22):
That was the one.
Speaker 5 (21:22):
Mistake I made that I won't be making again when
I do round two down the road.
Speaker 2 (21:26):
Correct. And the other thing that I've tried to do,
what you suggested, was to have the kind of post
colon osca be top pot donut thing going remember, yeah,
because because you know they give you kind of like
juice and a cracker like that's got to change, So.
Speaker 6 (21:41):
I would I would think at least like a brownie
or something.
Speaker 2 (21:44):
I mean, yeah, I think they're worried about you know,
about people's blood sugar. People have diabetes and stuff, which
you know, honestly, after doing all this, even if you
have something going on, like, I don't think a brownie
is going to be that bad for you.
Speaker 5 (22:00):
Well, I mean, I just think we've stumbled upon a
great idea of actually finding an endorsement for you for
the postop procedure brought to you by cold Stone Creamery
and Top Top top Plot donut. I mean, why don't
you think I think.
Speaker 2 (22:13):
People would just be lining up out the door even
on weekends.
Speaker 3 (22:18):
So what we're really saying is a lot of water,
a lot of.
Speaker 2 (22:23):
Water in electrolytes.
Speaker 4 (22:24):
Right.
Speaker 2 (22:25):
And I also tell people like even when they're prepping, right,
like you know, try to get something, you know, some
kind of like gatorade or something or something even like
broth or something has a little bit of protein and
you know that kind of stuff in there that will
kind of help. And then like Dave was right exactly
at the end, yeah, push you know, push those fluids
(22:45):
and because yeah, you've put out a lot of stuff
and people are kind of really behind, so it's super
super important to do that.
Speaker 3 (22:53):
Okay, so let's recap here.
Speaker 1 (22:54):
Doctor Harry Tischer and Dave Softy Mull are joining me here,
and uh so, what is the first step people can
take who have not made any of these steps? I
just want to emphasize that right now on in March
on Color Rectal Cancer Awareness Month, but it is literally
every month of the year that people should be thinking
about this.
Speaker 3 (23:12):
But what is the first step someone can take?
Speaker 2 (23:14):
Well, the first step is reaching out usually to your
primary position, you know, getting in a referral. Some insurance
companies kind of let you do this, you know, directly,
and you know, talking to somebody about you know said,
like I said, there are different options, right, and you know,
it's okay to discuss the different options and different statistics
(23:37):
regarding what you're going to find and what you're not
going to find. And some people will choose to do
one and some people choose to do the other. The
key is just to just get the process started. That's
the big hurdle, right, No matter what you do, I mean,
nothing happens unless you actually get the process.
Speaker 3 (23:56):
It's like waking up and going to the gym.
Speaker 4 (23:57):
Right.
Speaker 3 (23:58):
The hardest part is getting there exactly.
Speaker 2 (24:00):
Right, right, and the hardest part of calais is getting there.
But I also including getting there the day before, because
that's actually part of getting there right, Yes, part of
the process. So you know, so you said, talk talk
to your talk to your primary and again the other
the other thing is, you know, word of mouth, especially
with someone who you trust, is really huge, right, you know,
(24:22):
like having having having Dave come on, and Dave, I
really really thank you for again the opportunity to do
this and for your willingness to share your experience, because
it's super helpful to have people who people trust and
listen to say like, you know, this isn't that bad, right,
Like my own thing wasn't that bad. That's that's super helpful.
(24:44):
So yeah, so having people talk to their friends and
their family. I think this is getting a little bit
more in the public consciousness now, especially because there are
some you know, unfortunately very high profile people who have
developed you know, coll directal cancer. Right, you shared a
story about someone else who works there, and then you know,
(25:06):
you know, there's Hollywood actors and things right who have
had corectal cancer and passed away at very young ages. Yes, right,
so I think that's getting out there a little bit.
Speaker 1 (25:17):
So.
Speaker 2 (25:19):
But like I said, just just go and just go
and get the process started. And like I said, it's
not it's not as bad as you think. And maybe
that should just be the tagline for all of the
co directal cancer awareness.
Speaker 3 (25:33):
It's not that bad.
Speaker 2 (25:34):
It's not that bad.
Speaker 5 (25:36):
Yeah, and you get a free donut and a free donut.
Speaker 2 (25:41):
Correct.
Speaker 3 (25:41):
Yeah, you're working with topot on that right, yeah.
Speaker 2 (25:44):
Right across the street. Actually I should I'm not sure
if I should, if I'm allowed to mention that, but
oh why not.
Speaker 3 (25:51):
We're fine. We're an un sponsored Joe. It's absolutely fine.
Speaker 1 (25:53):
That's Jessamin McIntyre with Seattle Voice, doctor Harry Tyser and
Dave Mauller with me and talking about some very very
important things that should be brought to the forefront of
not just people in their fifties, sixties and seventies minds.
Speaker 3 (26:07):
I mean, you've got me thinking right now.
Speaker 1 (26:09):
You know, I was so focused on my you know,
breast cancer stuff, which I do, I don't have, but
I had things going on that were not normal that
I didn't even think about the other end of the body.
And I really also like that you said to not
be embarrassed, and it is. It's a humbling thing to
(26:30):
go in and say, go look at the parts of
my body.
Speaker 3 (26:32):
I don't want anyone to see.
Speaker 1 (26:34):
And I think that's a really good I think that
should be the slogan is, really, don't be embarrassed.
Speaker 3 (26:40):
I like that.
Speaker 2 (26:41):
Yeah, I agree, And like I said, it's you know,
it's it's it's easy to say, it's still hard for people, right, Yeah,
it's just getting people in and getting it done. And
like I said, the huge, huge, huge, huge proportion of
people who get this done come out with the same thing.
I was like, you know, oh what what was I
what was I worried about? I mean, and there's a
(27:03):
there's a lot of great places in town of you know,
I mean I work as sweetish, right, we do great work.
Speaker 3 (27:08):
I mean I'm a sweetish patient or.
Speaker 2 (27:12):
Wonderful places all over the area that actually, you know,
do good work as well. So and like I said,
we can, we can get people then to get this done,
you know, pretty quickly too, because people are also concerned
about well there's a wait time, and you know, I'm
not sure how I'm gonna do. It's it's pretty easy
to get this, get this over with if people are
(27:35):
really you know, people are worried, worried about it.
Speaker 1 (27:38):
Yeah, that's good to know too, because I mean, even
to see my primary care doctors sometimes I have to
really prethink that and you know, get my appointment on
the schedule. We all work, right, so we have to
have it on our schedules as well. But as you explain,
the appointment itself is a lot shorter than people might
think it is.
Speaker 3 (27:55):
There's a lot of prep.
Speaker 1 (27:56):
That goes into it, obviously, except the fact that when
your in and out, and Softie even mentioned that he
was that Gina was surprised his wife, Gina was surprised
to get a call that quickly. So that's good to
know that people can get in that quickly as well.
Thank you very much for all of that.
Speaker 2 (28:13):
You're welcome. And just one last thing about work, just
because you mentioned work. Yeah, I don't even if you
come out of this like that day feeling like okay,
Like we don't really advise people who are like, oh
I'm just going to go back to work that day.
Speaker 3 (28:27):
Oh that's good to know, just like take.
Speaker 2 (28:30):
The day off, right, just relax, get your fluids in
kind of recover, right, don't don't make any financial decisions,
don't sign any contracts. You know, even if you're feeling okay,
it's still not a still not a great idea.
Speaker 3 (28:47):
That's good to know too.
Speaker 1 (28:48):
And also, I don't know if someone told me to
take a day off and not think about anything important,
I'd be pretty pumped about that.
Speaker 3 (28:56):
Yeah, sounds like a vacation to me.
Speaker 1 (28:59):
Well, doctor Harry Tyser, Dave Softi Muller, you guys are awesome.
I think this is one of the better informative interviews
that I've ever done, just to let people know, especially
during an awareness month for something like this. But it
doesn't have to be Withholden inside of March. I think
this is something that people should be thinking about all
the time, is their own personal health, and clearly that
(29:23):
is all you care about for your patients. So thank
you so so much for your time. This has been
really great.
Speaker 2 (29:29):
Oh well, well again, I can't thank you both enough
for the chance to come on and speak with both
of you and you get this message out to the community.
So thank you so much.
Speaker 3 (29:39):
You have an awesome day, and we'll be in touch.
Speaker 6 (29:42):
Softie, you're beck. Thanks guys, this is great.
Speaker 1 (29:45):
Well, that was a very, very lovely and informative conversation.
You've been listening to Seattle Voice, presented by iHeart Radio Seattle.
Speaker 3 (29:52):
I'm Jessinan McIntyre.
Speaker 1 (29:53):
For show ideas or to find out how your voice
can be heard, email Seattle Voice at iHeartMedia dot com
This is Jessman McIntyre, your host of Seattle Voice, your
community Voice presented by iHeartRadio in Seattle. And joining me
now is doctor Harry Teiser and my colleague Dave Softy Maler.
You've heard his voice, but he's going to be a
little bit louder today. Doctor Harry Teyser, can I just
allow you to introduce yourself to the audience?
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Certainly, And the first thing I want to say is
thank you so much to both of you for this opportunity.
This is so important and I think it's really wonderful
that you all are helping to spread the message about this.
So I can't thank you enough for myself and also
for everybody named Harry Teiser. I'm a staff gush and
trologist at Swedish Medical Center. I've been here for almost
(00:44):
ten years. I was at Highline Medical Center before that
for fifteen years. I trained at University of Washington. I
do general gashon trology kind of all things. A very
passionate about collrectal cancer prevention and I'm really hoping to
(01:04):
spread some information about, you know, why people should get
it done, address you know, fears of people getting it done,
and to show that you know, in the in the
in the whole thing. It's it's really a very very
effective way for you to prevent something bad from happening
to you.
Speaker 1 (01:22):
And March is colorrect Old Cancer Awareness Month, which is
why we are pleased to have you on today. There
is a lot of fear that comes into preventative care
treatments and I do understand them. And you know, as
we had talked off the air, I went through a
breast cancer scare twice in my life and it is
very very uncomfortable to go into those procedures to figure
(01:46):
it out.
Speaker 3 (01:47):
So what should people know about this?
Speaker 1 (01:49):
I had told you that I felt very uncomfortable for
a very short period of time and then I had
peace of mind.
Speaker 3 (01:58):
What should people know about going into get checked out?
Speaker 2 (02:01):
Okay, well, the first thing I think to know is, uh,
you know the rationale for doing this?
Speaker 4 (02:07):
Right? There?
Speaker 2 (02:07):
There are other ways for people to get checked for
cola richtal cancer. There are stool there are some stool tests.
There's X rays, which actually are even more unpleasant than
the colonoscopy. They won't tell you that because they just
don't tell you that stuff.
Speaker 3 (02:25):
But you do not.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
Exactly and and and blood tests. But but the key
point is that there's nothing as good as the colonoscopy
for detecting polyps, which are the things that become cancers
in most people. Right, these other tests are really good
at telling you maybe you don't have cancer. But the
real goal of this for most people is to find
(02:50):
the things that can be worked on and fixed so
you don't don't develop cancer. So that that's why the
colonospy is really kind of top of the line for
those things. I can talk about the stats of that
later if we need to the hardest part for most
people of this is getting ready for it. Right.
Speaker 3 (03:09):
People are like, I've heard process yeah for a.
Speaker 2 (03:13):
Day, you know, and then you have to do the
prep and the prep kind of sucks, you know. And
and the number one prep is actually called go lightly
like I don't know who marketed that with that name,
but I think they should cant from any marketing position.
Speaker 1 (03:32):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (03:33):
And it's a lot, it's it's a lot of stuff
to drink. It's really really hard. People get kind of
sick to their stomach. There's there's different preps now that
are I'm not going to say better because that's misleading.
I'm going to say less bad, like they should be
called sucks lessing. Yeah. Yeah, So there's things with that,
(03:56):
you know, smaller amounts of liquid, and there's some pills,
and there's different iteration and so, I mean, nothing's fun,
but you know, it's hard to not eat for a
day and it's hard to you know, do all this stuff.
But you know, the way I kind of try to
approach to people, I'm like, it's one day, you know,
you can do something that's not so much fun for
(04:17):
one day probably, right, right, And then when you get
when you get when you get to the procedure, we
have an you know, an anti caesiologist. You know, for
most people, you know, you get a little bit of medicine,
you take a really nice nap. Most people don't feel
a thing.
Speaker 1 (04:36):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (04:36):
Some people actually do this without sedation at all. I've
actually had this on myself with those sedation. I'm a
proponent of that, uh, that not everybody needs sedation, but
you know, ninety nine point nine percent of people are
going to have the station. That's totally fine, And the
(04:57):
only people who really get un comfortable the people who
actually don't have the I don't have sedation. But even then,
even they do really really well. So you know, most people,
they get a little medicine, they go out, we do,
We do our procedure, which for most people takes twenty minutes,
sometimes a little longer if you have you know, polyps
or something else. And then you you know, you go
(05:17):
to the recovery, you wake up, you get out of there.
Most people feel great because you wake up really quickly.
You had maybe had a nice dream about something fun,
like you went somewhere. Maybe you didn't the whole the
whole thing from the time you walk into the time
you walk out is for most people like two and
a half hours.
Speaker 1 (05:37):
That's so that's a decent amount of time. You know,
when I get my mammograms and everything very uncomfortable. That's
not a sedation situation. However, the peace of mind that
I leave with after knowing that I got checked out
is the biggest benefit. Again, Doctor Harry Tyser joining me,
and we have a patient of yours on the line,
my colleague Dave Softy Muller, and I would like to
(05:59):
hear what your experience was like.
Speaker 3 (06:01):
Mister Muller.
Speaker 5 (06:03):
Yeah, first of all, imagine being the doctor that did
my colonoscopy.
Speaker 3 (06:07):
Did you find your head up there.
Speaker 6 (06:08):
Yeah, maybe potentially.
Speaker 5 (06:10):
I mean, people have accused me of having my head
up my butt, so I would not be surprised if
he did find it up there.
Speaker 6 (06:15):
But I mean, out of all the accomplishments that.
Speaker 5 (06:17):
You've had in your career, doctor, uh, being a husky
certainly is up there. And by the way, you're talking
to a cougar and Jessamine, so just be aware of that.
Speaker 1 (06:25):
We can unite over colorrectal cancer awareness conject.
Speaker 6 (06:28):
That's fine, that's fine. But yeah, I mean, I but again,
I mean, you know, doing doing.
Speaker 5 (06:33):
Softies colonoscopy has got to be up there on the
list of all the great accomplishments that you've done in
the medical field.
Speaker 6 (06:39):
But I mean, look, I had a.
Speaker 2 (06:41):
Great life, not not medical field.
Speaker 6 (06:44):
There you go, there you go, I had.
Speaker 5 (06:46):
I had actually a great experience on the day of
the procedure, no problems. I mean, you know, I remember
Gina dropping me off at the at the hospital you
know over there on on Capitol Hill, I think is
where you were, doctor, And you know, she dropped me
off and waited in the parking lot and was actually
shocked at how quickly she got the phone call that
I was ready to go home. So the procedure itself
(07:09):
was like doctor said, just you know, just nothing. I mean,
you go in, they put yonder, you know. Harry asked
me what kind of music I liked. I think I
said some ACDC starts blaring a little back in black
and in the operating room, and then the next thing
I woke up, I was ready to go home. So
we actually had a great time on procedure day itself.
You know, look when you've never done it, and obviously
(07:30):
I'll do this again at some point in my life.
I'm fifty two in August, so I've got a few
years before, you know, round two's coming up. Obviously, after
a clean bill of health after round one, round two
is not going to be so daunting because now I
know what to expect. I mean, it is a little
bit overwhelming to drink that much and put that much
fluid in your body and then all of it leaves
your body.
Speaker 6 (07:51):
And what I found, and I don't know how.
Speaker 5 (07:53):
Much of this is being talked about, doctor, that you
got to put that fluid back in at some point,
right because you're getting rid of everything in your body.
And I went to work. I think it was the
next day, and I found myself to be severely dehydrated.
Actually went home, it was just feeling terrible. I had
to take a couple of days off from work because
I did not do a good enough job of replacing
the fluids in my body that were lost, you know,
(08:14):
before the cold oscopy procedure itself. So if there's one
thing I would tell people, number one, don't don't be nervous.
It's again on on procedure day. It's not a big deal.
Speaker 1 (08:25):
Uh.
Speaker 5 (08:25):
Drinking the fluid is a little bit daunting and saying
in in some ways even challenging because, let's face it,
maybe outside of a couple of you know, moments in
college when you're not thinking properly, we haven't put that
much fluid in our system in a long, long time, right, so.
Speaker 6 (08:41):
It is a little bit overwhelming. But the procedure itself
is nothing.
Speaker 5 (08:44):
I would just tell people to make sure you drink
plenty after because you're going to find yourself dehydrated the
way I was. But I'm glad I did it, and
I'm glad that you brought up all these other options
that are you know, these fads on the internet. You know,
you poop in a box and you send it in
the mail. I mean going in and actually getting somebody
to take a look at what's going on. I don't
(09:04):
think can replace anything else. It's the best way to go.
It's the best way to get the clearest answer and
to get the biggest and best peace of mind. So
I'm glad I did it, and I'm actually glad that
Harry was the one to do it because he actually
kind of made the procedure fun if you can believe that.
Speaker 1 (09:21):
Well, well, I won't go into details on that, but Harry,
doctor Tysher, thank you again for joining us here. And
it's really good to get a patient perspective, the first
hand perspective of it. I think that there is a
misperception of the people that should be doing this because
it is focused on men quite a bit, and women
also have I don't know the stats on it, but
(09:45):
just as much a chance of having an issue in there.
Can you talk about how the dichotomy of men and
women who can be affected by colarectical cancer can be
and who should get it and when should women get it? Right?
Speaker 2 (10:00):
Well, so it's a great question. So this is a
really common cancer both in men and women. It's the
corectal cancer is the third most common cancer both in
men and women. It's the second most common cause of
cancer deaths in men and women. And I think people
are surprised when you hear that number, because people hear about,
you know, lung cancer and pancreatic cancer, and you know,
(10:22):
and breast cancer, right, they get a lot more play.
But this is, this is super common, and like I said,
it's it's super preventable. And I'll talk about you know,
some of the statistics about that later. What we're finding, unfortunately,
over time, is that the the it's the total incidance
(10:43):
of corectal cancer in people. We used to just think
of this as kind of like an old person disease, right,
you know, sixty sixty five to seventy, right, the screening
guidelines have now come down to forty five for an
averageist person. And when is an averageist person? And this
is men and women together, Okay, an average an average
(11:04):
risk person is someone who just who has no family
history of colon cancer, you know, who doesn't have any
family history of polyps or other you know, inflammatory diseases.
So it just does kind of like your you know,
your routine screening, like you said, your mammogram, your PSA
for your PROS state, you know, skin exams, I mean,
(11:25):
all all that other stuff. The age came down from
fifty to forty five. I wonder, given the given the
data that shows that this is actually the highest rate
of increases actually even in younger people, like we're seeing
people who have colon cancer in their twenties and thirties.
(11:46):
It's not the highest total number, but if you actually
look at the incidents rates over time, the twenty and
thirty year olds are the ones who are the highest
rising incidents of this. For no one really knows why.
There's all kinds of you know, suppositions, why you know it?
Is it obesity? Is it? Is it diet?
Speaker 3 (12:04):
Is it?
Speaker 6 (12:06):
In?
Speaker 2 (12:06):
One knows, but it's but it's kind of scary.
Speaker 4 (12:07):
Actually, So no, no, yeah, yeah, So I wonder even
down the road, if that number is not going to
come down to forty So that so I said, So,
I said, if you're forty.
Speaker 2 (12:19):
Five, if you've if you've never had this done right,
and you you should, you should get this done. A
lot of people don't know their family history. Uh if
not something that comes up a lot like Thanksgiving and
the family conversations and stuff. Yeah, people want to talk
about this stuff, right, That's completely understandable. But yeah, it's
(12:41):
super important for men and women to get checked. It
doesn't it doesn't play any favorites.
Speaker 3 (12:47):
Well, yeah, I was I was going to ask you.
Speaker 1 (12:49):
My maternal grandfather passed away from colon cancer actually, and
it's known as a very treatable disease. So let's say
the treatment doesn't go the way that people were hoping
for a clearhead, you know, where they actually have to
do something about it.
Speaker 3 (13:06):
What's the next step.
Speaker 2 (13:08):
Well, the next step is if you find something, if
you find a cancer, right, the next step is you
have to stage the cancer. And what that means is
you have to determine is the cancer just localized to
that little part of your colon or is it spread
to other areas like your livery lung. As you do
(13:28):
scans and things like that, most of these cancers are
caught early. And you know, I would say most of
the people I take care of, you know, have surgery,
which you know, it's scary and surgery is hard for
a lot of people to contemplate. But a lot of
people can get just the little section taken out and
then they'll see the oncologists probably do some other treatments,
(13:50):
you know, chemotherapy and stuff. But like I said, if
you catch this early, your chances are survival are really, really,
really good. The key is, like anything else, is liketching
it early. And if you make sure you get screened
on time, that's a good thing. If you have any symptoms,
you really need to bring these up to your practitioner.
Speaker 4 (14:11):
Right.
Speaker 2 (14:12):
It used to be just like well I saw a
little bit of blood, like I'm just going to kind
of blow that off, you know, like hopefully I hope
that goes away, right, which completely are like yeah, of course,
because it's.
Speaker 3 (14:23):
A lot of walk it off, right, a lot.
Speaker 2 (14:25):
A lot of walk it off, right, But especially now,
like I said, because of the rising instance of younger
people and and the fact, like I said, that you
know you can't you can find it and fix it
for you know a lot of people. It's it's super
super important. You know, we have you know, wonderful surgeons here.
There's wonderful surgeons on college all over the area right
(14:47):
who have a lot of experience in this. But you know,
the key is to go and go and get checked
and and do not be embarrassed. Uh. Well, it's easy
to say to not be embarrassed, but try to not
be embarrassed for something like this. Right, if you're going
in and you have this done and you have you know,
AVERAGERSK and everything's fine, right, you get you get ten
(15:11):
year peace of mind?
Speaker 3 (15:12):
Yes, right.
Speaker 2 (15:13):
There is no other test that we could do medically.
There's no blood test or X ray or mammogram or
whatever that can give you that peace of mind. So yeah,
like I said, it's hard to do, and it's but
when you come out of it, you know it's fine.
Even if you find polyps and you take those out,
(15:33):
you know you're still good for you know, three five
years or whatever, seven years depending on kind of what's fine.
So it still gives you peace of mind. But yeah,
the only way to know for most people is to
actually actually look because you know, a lot of people
don't have symptoms.
Speaker 3 (15:48):
Well that what are the symptoms people should look for?
Speaker 2 (15:51):
Okay, Well, the symptoms that people should look for are,
you know, if they have blood in their stool, if
they have like a really uh and I'm sorry you're
gonna get into some terms that you know, no one
likes talking about these words, but I don't mind.
Speaker 3 (16:07):
You gave fire warnings, so we're all good.
Speaker 2 (16:10):
Like a sudden change of your bowel habits or you have,
you know, for example, like lower abdominal pain and losing
weight unintentionally. You know, those are things. If something's just different, right,
you really should brings to someone's attention.
Speaker 4 (16:30):
You know.
Speaker 2 (16:31):
You know. Unfortunately, though, you know, a lot of these
cancers don't have any symptoms.
Speaker 4 (16:36):
Right.
Speaker 2 (16:37):
We're finding now that the highest rising types of cancers
are those on the There's there's a left side which
is kind of closer to the end, and a right side,
which is kind of uh so that's kind of the terminology, right,
there's more kind of right sided cancers with these are
so called flat polyps. And because they're okated far away
(17:00):
from where you you know, pooh, you don't, people won't
have blood or something, right, okay, a little anemic maybe,
you know.
Speaker 6 (17:08):
So you know.
Speaker 2 (17:10):
So that's another reason why you know this is good
to think about, is because there's going to be a
lot of people who we diagnose with this or the
poly ups. Right there are the pre cancerous ones that
will have no symptoms of all.
Speaker 3 (17:26):
Thank you very much.
Speaker 1 (17:27):
I just think it's good for not only people to
get checked out but know what to look for should
they get checked out. But also if you're completely healthy,
go get checked out regardless.
Speaker 2 (17:38):
The other thing I've just mentioned too is, you know,
it's also people are scared about the complication rates. I
just want to throw that out there. You know a
lot of people know someone who had a who had
an injury or what's called a perforation, Right, you have
a tear that happens or bleeding that happens after you
take a poll up off, and you know that's something
that you know sometimes can just be fixed medically or surgery.
(18:01):
But the chances of complications with this, especially with people
who do this a lot, are really, really really low,
anywhere from you know, one in one thousand to one
in ten thousand of people colon Auspy's that people have perforations,
the bleeding rigged, or you know, probably just you know,
one in a few hundred. I personally always divulge to
(18:24):
people my own complication rates, and I've been doing this
for you know, almost over twenty five years, and my
complication rate is about one in like fifteen thousand.
Speaker 1 (18:37):
For wow, perfect all right, so if you need this done,
go to doctor Harry Tyser.
Speaker 4 (18:42):
Well.
Speaker 2 (18:42):
Well, but the other thing too is that people should
not feel embarrassed about asking who's doing this for them, like.
Speaker 3 (18:51):
Oh, you know your doctors? Yeah, yeah, like you know.
Speaker 2 (18:55):
And just say, well, you know what, you know, what's
your experience, like how long you've been doing this us?
How many of these do you do? At your complication rate?
And if if someone just says, oh, I'm fuck you know,
I'm fine, go see someone else. I just just the
way I am. Like, if if you're not going to
talk about what could go wrong honestly to somebody, then
(19:18):
I don't want to deal with you, and no one
should deal with someone like that.
Speaker 3 (19:21):
That is really really good advice.
Speaker 1 (19:22):
And I know that distrust in the medical community is
an unfortunate preventative thing that happens for people to actually
seek what they truly need.
Speaker 3 (19:31):
Doctor Harry Tyser, thank you so much.
Speaker 1 (19:33):
And before we let my colleague Dave Softie Mull or
your own patient go, uh, Softie, what was it that
drove you to go see doctor Tyser in the first place.
Speaker 6 (19:43):
I just my insurance pointed me to Swedish Hospital.
Speaker 1 (19:47):
With you.
Speaker 6 (19:48):
I didn't have much of a choice. But now that,
I mean, that's good.
Speaker 5 (19:51):
That's actually good information to kind of seek out the
right doctors and all that stuff. And uh, I had
no idea that your that your hit rate was that good.
I mean, my god, the owners should sign you for
crying out loud with that kind of batting average man.
So no, I just think it's important to get this done.
You know, there's nothing to be embarrassed about. Everybody was
born with a colon, obviously, so we all have the
(20:13):
same potential.
Speaker 6 (20:14):
Scare.
Speaker 5 (20:14):
They all have the same potential as you, and as
all of us get older, we're all gonna have to
deal with the same kind of stuff. And I was
just talking to my carpet cleaner, by the way, Harry,
he's forty six years old, wants to know if you
do a friends and family discount, if somebody can mention
my name with you.
Speaker 2 (20:29):
You know, that's interesting. We're talking about that kind of
stuff right now with the higher ups. We're talking about
punch cards, We're.
Speaker 6 (20:35):
Talking about all kinds of stuff.
Speaker 2 (20:37):
So yeah, that's that's good. I will throw that into
the mix. And just to just to get back to
your manners thing with your hit rate. Actually played against
the Poto in high school.
Speaker 6 (20:47):
Wow, And I.
Speaker 2 (20:49):
Actually I own that guy. So he was a pitcher
and his team was better than us. But I mean
he couldn't handle me as a hitter.
Speaker 6 (20:56):
So it's all right. Well, next time we see him,
we'll be sure and bring that up. I'm sure you
will lie.
Speaker 2 (21:00):
You will not remember that. I am sure at Paul,
But Tom's Turban North. I think that's where he went.
He was really good.
Speaker 6 (21:05):
There you go, there you go.
Speaker 5 (21:07):
Yeah, Well listen, Justinn, this is really important and thanks
for having me on. And I can't recommend doctor Tycher enough.
He was really fun to work with and and all
that stuff. And again, if just the one piece of
advice I would offer is just make sure when you're
done that you start putting those fluids back in your body.
Speaker 6 (21:22):
That was the one.
Speaker 5 (21:22):
Mistake I made that I won't be making again when
I do round two down the road.
Speaker 2 (21:26):
Correct. And the other thing that I've tried to do,
what you suggested, was to have the kind of post
colon osca be top pot donut thing going remember, yeah,
because because you know they give you kind of like
juice and a cracker like that's got to change, So.
Speaker 6 (21:41):
I would I would think at least like a brownie
or something.
Speaker 2 (21:44):
I mean, yeah, I think they're worried about you know,
about people's blood sugar. People have diabetes and stuff, which
you know, honestly, after doing all this, even if you
have something going on, like, I don't think a brownie
is going to be that bad for you.
Speaker 5 (22:00):
Well, I mean, I just think we've stumbled upon a
great idea of actually finding an endorsement for you for
the postop procedure brought to you by cold Stone Creamery
and Top Top top Plot donut. I mean, why don't
you think I think.
Speaker 2 (22:13):
People would just be lining up out the door even
on weekends.
Speaker 3 (22:18):
So what we're really saying is a lot of water,
a lot of.
Speaker 2 (22:23):
Water in electrolytes.
Speaker 4 (22:24):
Right.
Speaker 2 (22:25):
And I also tell people like even when they're prepping, right,
like you know, try to get something, you know, some
kind of like gatorade or something or something even like
broth or something has a little bit of protein and
you know that kind of stuff in there that will
kind of help. And then like Dave was right exactly
at the end, yeah, push you know, push those fluids
(22:45):
and because yeah, you've put out a lot of stuff
and people are kind of really behind, so it's super
super important to do that.
Speaker 3 (22:53):
Okay, so let's recap here.
Speaker 1 (22:54):
Doctor Harry Tischer and Dave Softy Mull are joining me here,
and uh so, what is the first step people can
take who have not made any of these steps? I
just want to emphasize that right now on in March
on Color Rectal Cancer Awareness Month, but it is literally
every month of the year that people should be thinking
about this.
Speaker 3 (23:12):
But what is the first step someone can take?
Speaker 2 (23:14):
Well, the first step is reaching out usually to your
primary position, you know, getting in a referral. Some insurance
companies kind of let you do this, you know, directly,
and you know, talking to somebody about you know said,
like I said, there are different options, right, and you know,
it's okay to discuss the different options and different statistics
(23:37):
regarding what you're going to find and what you're not
going to find. And some people will choose to do
one and some people choose to do the other. The
key is just to just get the process started. That's
the big hurdle, right, No matter what you do, I mean,
nothing happens unless you actually get the process.
Speaker 3 (23:56):
It's like waking up and going to the gym.
Speaker 4 (23:57):
Right.
Speaker 3 (23:58):
The hardest part is getting there exactly.
Speaker 2 (24:00):
Right, right, and the hardest part of calais is getting there.
But I also including getting there the day before, because
that's actually part of getting there right, Yes, part of
the process. So you know, so you said, talk talk
to your talk to your primary and again the other
the other thing is, you know, word of mouth, especially
with someone who you trust, is really huge, right, you know,
(24:22):
like having having having Dave come on, and Dave, I
really really thank you for again the opportunity to do
this and for your willingness to share your experience, because
it's super helpful to have people who people trust and
listen to say like, you know, this isn't that bad, right,
Like my own thing wasn't that bad. That's that's super helpful.
(24:44):
So yeah, so having people talk to their friends and
their family. I think this is getting a little bit
more in the public consciousness now, especially because there are
some you know, unfortunately very high profile people who have
developed you know, coll directal cancer. Right, you shared a
story about someone else who works there, and then you know,
(25:06):
you know, there's Hollywood actors and things right who have
had corectal cancer and passed away at very young ages. Yes, right,
so I think that's getting out there a little bit.
Speaker 1 (25:17):
So.
Speaker 2 (25:19):
But like I said, just just go and just go
and get the process started. And like I said, it's
not it's not as bad as you think. And maybe
that should just be the tagline for all of the
co directal cancer awareness.
Speaker 3 (25:33):
It's not that bad.
Speaker 2 (25:34):
It's not that bad.
Speaker 5 (25:36):
Yeah, and you get a free donut and a free donut.
Speaker 2 (25:41):
Correct.
Speaker 3 (25:41):
Yeah, you're working with topot on that right, yeah.
Speaker 2 (25:44):
Right across the street. Actually I should I'm not sure
if I should, if I'm allowed to mention that, but
oh why not.
Speaker 3 (25:51):
We're fine. We're an un sponsored Joe. It's absolutely fine.
Speaker 1 (25:53):
That's Jessamin McIntyre with Seattle Voice, doctor Harry Tyser and
Dave Mauller with me and talking about some very very
important things that should be brought to the forefront of
not just people in their fifties, sixties and seventies minds.
Speaker 3 (26:07):
I mean, you've got me thinking right now.
Speaker 1 (26:09):
You know, I was so focused on my you know,
breast cancer stuff, which I do, I don't have, but
I had things going on that were not normal that
I didn't even think about the other end of the body.
And I really also like that you said to not
be embarrassed, and it is. It's a humbling thing to
(26:30):
go in and say, go look at the parts of
my body.
Speaker 3 (26:32):
I don't want anyone to see.
Speaker 1 (26:34):
And I think that's a really good I think that
should be the slogan is, really, don't be embarrassed.
Speaker 3 (26:40):
I like that.
Speaker 2 (26:41):
Yeah, I agree, And like I said, it's you know,
it's it's it's easy to say, it's still hard for people, right, Yeah,
it's just getting people in and getting it done. And
like I said, the huge, huge, huge, huge proportion of
people who get this done come out with the same thing.
I was like, you know, oh what what was I
what was I worried about? I mean, and there's a
(27:03):
there's a lot of great places in town of you know,
I mean I work as sweetish, right, we do great work.
Speaker 3 (27:08):
I mean I'm a sweetish patient or.
Speaker 2 (27:12):
Wonderful places all over the area that actually, you know,
do good work as well. So and like I said,
we can, we can get people then to get this done,
you know, pretty quickly too, because people are also concerned
about well there's a wait time, and you know, I'm
not sure how I'm gonna do. It's it's pretty easy
to get this, get this over with if people are
(27:35):
really you know, people are worried, worried about it.
Speaker 1 (27:38):
Yeah, that's good to know too, because I mean, even
to see my primary care doctors sometimes I have to
really prethink that and you know, get my appointment on
the schedule. We all work, right, so we have to
have it on our schedules as well. But as you explain,
the appointment itself is a lot shorter than people might
think it is.
Speaker 3 (27:55):
There's a lot of prep.
Speaker 1 (27:56):
That goes into it, obviously, except the fact that when
your in and out, and Softie even mentioned that he
was that Gina was surprised his wife, Gina was surprised
to get a call that quickly. So that's good to
know that people can get in that quickly as well.
Thank you very much for all of that.
Speaker 2 (28:13):
You're welcome. And just one last thing about work, just
because you mentioned work. Yeah, I don't even if you
come out of this like that day feeling like okay,
Like we don't really advise people who are like, oh
I'm just going to go back to work that day.
Speaker 3 (28:27):
Oh that's good to know, just like take.
Speaker 2 (28:30):
The day off, right, just relax, get your fluids in
kind of recover, right, don't don't make any financial decisions,
don't sign any contracts. You know, even if you're feeling okay,
it's still not a still not a great idea.
Speaker 3 (28:47):
That's good to know too.
Speaker 1 (28:48):
And also, I don't know if someone told me to
take a day off and not think about anything important,
I'd be pretty pumped about that.
Speaker 3 (28:56):
Yeah, sounds like a vacation to me.
Speaker 1 (28:59):
Well, doctor Harry Tyser, Dave Softi Muller, you guys are awesome.
I think this is one of the better informative interviews
that I've ever done, just to let people know, especially
during an awareness month for something like this. But it
doesn't have to be Withholden inside of March. I think
this is something that people should be thinking about all
the time, is their own personal health, and clearly that
(29:23):
is all you care about for your patients. So thank
you so so much for your time. This has been
really great.
Speaker 2 (29:29):
Oh well, well again, I can't thank you both enough
for the chance to come on and speak with both
of you and you get this message out to the community.
So thank you so much.
Speaker 3 (29:39):
You have an awesome day, and we'll be in touch.
Speaker 6 (29:42):
Softie, you're beck. Thanks guys, this is great.
Speaker 1 (29:45):
Well, that was a very, very lovely and informative conversation.
You've been listening to Seattle Voice, presented by iHeart Radio Seattle.
Speaker 3 (29:52):
I'm Jessinan McIntyre.
Speaker 1 (29:53):
For show ideas or to find out how your voice
can be heard, email Seattle Voice at iHeartMedia dot com
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