Preparing for the big feast next week? Got your turkey lined up and your pumpkin pies ready to go?

I'm preparing, too. This year I'm making room for all that turkey and dressing and cranberry sauce in a most unusual way.

I'll start with Saturday night's supper by eating something easily digestible, something light. On Sunday, I'll dine mostly on chicken or veggie broth and maybe some gelatin -- as long as it's not red or blue. Then I'll drink to my heart's content of a brew with a deceptively carefree name like GoFreely. After that, I'll adjourn to a lengthy solo executive session in my powder room, where I will NOT be powdering my nose. I will, however, be otherwise occupied until ... well ... let's leave it at that.

No, I'm not going through this ordeal just to make room for turkey on Thursday, although it is a fringe benefit of this weekend's impending torture. I'm doing it because I finally summoned the courage to do it. I'm doing it to save my life.

Come Monday, I'll do what I should have done nine years ago ... what everyone over the age of 50 should do every 10 years, or more frequently if there's a medical history to warrant it. I'll make my way to my gastroenterologist, get a dose of happy drugs and fade into the Twilight Zone as my rotor-rooter procedure is done.

Yes, I'm getting my first colonoscopy and, as much as I dread it, I'm relieved I've finally taken this important step to make sure I don't have colon cancer. There's no history of it in my family, but I know someone about my age who has had it. When you know someone with colon cancer, it hits closer to home. You realize you're vulnerable, too.

I consider my colonoscopy an early Christmas gift to myself. The best thing we can do for ourselves is to take good care of our health. For too many years I let my health slide. When I was diagnosed with congestive heart failure caused by an unknown virus, it scared the complacency out of me. I wanted my good health back, but I knew I could never completely regain that good health again. So I simply resolved to make whatever improvements were possible.

This year I focused on losing weight. I've lost a total of 44 pounds since January, so I'm on my way. I've stalled out on a few plateaus, where I'm only maintaining what I have lost instead of continuing to drop pounds. But I'm feeling better and more confident than ever that I will attain a healthier weight through the lifestyle changes I've made.

Next on my agenda is to schedule my annual mammogram.

So, good luck to me on Monday. And good luck to you readers, too. But remember, we make our own luck. If you've been letting things slide, now's the time to schedule your colonoscopy, mammogram, annual physical -- whatever it takes to make 2009 your happiest, healthiest year ever.

Gobble, gobble!

T&D Region Editor Carol B. Barker can be reached by e-mail at cbarker@timesanddemocrat.com or by phone at 803-533-5525.

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