TV show host Dr. Mehmet Oz always emphasizes living a healthy lifestyle and claims he always takes his own advice. So when he went in for a routine colonoscopy he was not expecting to have any problems, but was surprised that the doctor found a an adenomatous polyp, or precancerous growth, inside his intestine.
He went in for the screening after his 50th birthday. If the growth had not been discovered in time it could have led to cancer. “The only thing holding me back from a terrible outcome is the dumb luck that I checked myself out for the show,” Oz said. “I would have put this off, like a lot of people. But I bet this saved my life.”
Dr. Oz does not know what caused this polyp. “This was a shakeup for me,” he said. “I have done everything right. I don’t have any family history, and yet I’m high risk now.”
He will have to be screened again in three months to make sure all of the precancerous tissue was removed and to check if any other growths have formed. He will have to continue to get regular colonoscopies.
“There’s a lot of tension,” he said. “It’s frustrating. Why did this happen to me? It forces you to question the assumptions you make about life.”
Dr. Oz will talk about his colon cancer scare on the season premiere of his show on September 7.