How to Get Your Husband to Get Screened

6. Recruit

You've tried being reasonable: "Here are the facts; I'm sure you'll do what's right." You've tried setting an example: "I'll go first and tell you what it's like." You've tried making it easy: "I'll take you, bring you home, and make sure we have the house to ourselves." You've tried being sweet: "I love you and want you to be healthy." You've tried being sour: "It's hard to believe I married a man who won't get one test every ten years for the sake of his wife, his children, and his grandchildren."

Now it's time to recruit. This should be a last resort because once you extend your activism to friends and family, you no longer control the method. You could end up with one very angry, annoyed husband. Maybe that would work – make him get screened to stop the madness. Or, maybe he still wouldn't get screened and he'd be mad, too.

You know him best, so it's your call. Should you enlist his mother and father? Should you teach your three-year-old to say "I love you daddy, please get a colonoscopy?" Or should you enlist your home in the battle by placing gentle reminders around the house?

It's a tough decision. Where do you draw the line between caring for him and driving him crazy? Encouraging him to take care of himself and encouraging him to ignore you? Being supportive and undercutting his right to make decisions about his own health? Your lives are so interlinked – his future is your future – that decisions about his health impact your well-being. (What would your life be like without him?) But ultimately, it's his decision. All you can do is try your hardest and know when to drop it.

Good luck in your quest.

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