Danny- sorry to hear about your uncle. My father at 71 I recall first observed blood in the toilet after a few days of cramps. He went to the emergency room and underwent immediate surgery that removed a section of his bowel. He was asked to have Chemo but refused. Today he is 85 and no cancer issues again.
The physical is a good thing. I decided this year I would do a good one with EKG, blood work etc. I would budget about a thousand bucks for it to baseline my condition at age 60. Unfortunately while out on a job in January, I suffered a collapse which has now been pretty much diagnosed as stress and work related. But that was after close to $30,000 of medical bills for all sorts of tests that came up negative for anything. I even had to wear a recording EKG for 30 days. The two good things about this is I have an excellent baseline physical that included everything one can imagine and nothing other than hypothermia, dehydration and lack of sleep, all of which are easily corrected as what was wrong with me that day I collapsed. A person nearby called 911 and told them I was having a heart attach. After the heart attack was eliminated, next was brain tumor, that eliminated, next was blood disorder, liver disorder, cancer, you name it I think they tested me for it and after last week's visit with the neurologist, cardiologist... I was told to not work such a rigorous schedule, drink more water and eat better to reduce periods of hypoglycemia. So now I'm up to 6 hours sleep a night and exercising each fday, both cardio and weight training. I'm back to three meals a day too.
I tell you all this because just saying I want to get a physical is almost not good enough. I learned that the body is way too complex for a simple BP, and sensory test to see if you are healthy or not. Oh, I said there were two good things about the experience I had. The second was as an emergency, it was paid for after a small deductible by my health insurance.
