CDC says: "March is National Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month."

In the end, it wasn't anywhere close to the pain in the rump I'd imagined. I'm referring to my first ever colonoscopy yesterday. It came a year later than recommended (I'll be 52 in August), and for an inveterate trencherman like me, 36 hours spent without solid food while gulping laxatives was annoying, but worth it.

First, here's how it works. You get a good inner cleansing courtesy of the laxatives, are hooked up to an IV with some groovy local anesthesia (conscious, but susceptible to Pink Floyd), and yield to a tiny camera so the doctor can explore your colon's nooks and crannies.

If precancerous polyps are found during the course of the examination, they are removed on the very same dime, and that's a bargain, because scientific studies now are beginning to show conclusively what has been suspected all along: Those polyps can become cancerous, and colorectal cancer is the second leading cause of cancer deaths yearly in America.

Yesterday two polyps were removed from my colon, one benign and the other precancerous. If you think their elimination wasn't worth a Sunday spent in proximity to a toilet, think again. It's simple: Timely screening and the removal of precancerous polyps translate into a 50% to 60% better chance of avoiding colorectal cancer in the future. Those are way better odds than you'll get at any casino, aren't they?

March is National Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month, at Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Colorectal cancer screening saves lives. If everyone who is 50 years old or older were screened regularly, as many as 60% of deaths from this cancer could be avoided.