Genetically Speaking

My father died of colon cancer when I was 40 years old and pregnant. His doctors told me that as soon as I gave birth I should schedule a colonoscopy and have one every four years after that, since colon cancer can be hereditary. They also suggested I eat plain popcorn daily, and vegetables like broccoli and cauliflower which "act as Brillo pads in the colon," keeping it sparkling clean. Since 1988 I have undergone ten colonoscopies, consumed lots of popcorn and about a million servings of broccoli and cauliflower, and have avoided getting colon cancer.

My mother died when she was 62 as a result of early onset Alzheimer's. Her doctors told me I should do daily crossword puzzles and learn new things to exercise my brain since her disease can be hereditary. I am now too old to get early anything, but I still do a crossword puzzle every day, except on foreign vacations or while deathly ill. Had I done one every day since she died it would have added up to 16,060 puzzles. Since I have traveled abroad often and have been deathly ill  a couple of times, I haven't done that many. But it's part of my morning routine, along with drinking coffee and scooping my cat's litter box.

I'm 78 now and have grown weary of having colonoscopies and doing crossword puzzles. Occasionally I wonder what will get me in the end and what I should have been doing all along to avoid that.