It’s 5am on procedure morning, and I just took the last of my prep. For the prep, it’s not the best tasting stuff and so I refrigerated it overnight and drank it through a straw - this helps alot, to not taste it so much. I also added powdered Gatorade but really refrigeration and straw are the best for avoiding the taste, with the straw feeding to the back of my mouth and tongue.
“Breakfast” this morning is mango sorbet, and a hot cup of chicken bouillon. Believe it or not.
0845 is my check-in time
0945 is my procedure time
1100 is when all should be done and I can go home. Mrs. Bullitt, bless her heart, is driving me there & home.
0900: I’m in the waiting room now. Hungry and thirsty, Haven’t eaten anything solid in 36 hours, haven’t had any liquids in 4 hrs.
Not-so-random thought, while I wait: when I think of the prep two words come to mind. violent discharge. For those who haven’t had this procedure yet, imagine you’re holding a garden hose, the water is on at a mild flow, your thumb is over the empty end (no nozzle), and you’re squeezing the water flow to a high-speed, violent discharge.
Since I had had no caffeine on the morning of the procedure, I gave Mr. brown strict instructions to show up with a quadruple espresso in hand when he picked me up. He did so, and I sat there blissfully drinking my coffee while he received instructions from the nurse on keeping an eye on me at home. I don’t remember a word of what they said, possibly due to my distraction in getting my caffeine fix but more probably due to the Versed.
First stop on the way home: pho joint, for some chicken pho soup.
Am about to have it done. Nurse is checking me in on my chart and I’m wearing that humble gown that doesn’t tie in the back. Well there are ties but you can’t reach them. At least my laptop is small and light and the wifi is free.
Pho, yes, we might do that. Right now I could eat the ass out of a dead rhinoceros.
I’m not going mild - hope I don’t pay for it later. Pho it is, but I just wolfed down some Vietnamese spring rolls with peanut sauce (slightly spicy). Mmm, mm. Next is some pho soup but I’ll finish this entry first.
All went well. The RN controlling the meds gave me the choice for lots or less, and I told him to go light so I could watch the TV monitor and discuss what was happening. Play-by-play and color commentary, if you will. I was wide awake throughout, and the docs and RNs were pretty cool, describing what I was seeing and answering my questions. All checked out okay, and the light meds meant I could walk out of there. But they insisted on me riding the wheel chair to the parking lot. I could’ve driven home, but Mrs. Bullitt was there and she drove. I was under the influence, but not overly so.
The doc said all looked good and I won’t need to do this again for another ten years. I’d like to hold him to that.
Yay! Good for you! My buddy (who drove me back to his place) cooked up some chicken and steamed vegetables. We ended up drinking copious beers and watching the hockey game. I stayed at his place and felt great the next day.
I think I might be on a 5 year rotation, but I won’t find out till I see my doc.
When I saw this thread, the immediately prior one was “So, I lost my damn glasses,” also by Leaffan. Just had to pop in and check if there was a connection.
Hey guys, you’ll never guess what I just got in the mail: a Thank You card from my procedure team, actually signed by the doc, the admissions RN, the front desk guy, the recovery RN, and the endo team’s RN and LVN - 6 people signed this, count 'em, SIX!!
A “thank you for letting us shove a tube up your ass and take pictures” card? Really?
Outside: Thank you from the blah blah SurgiCenter
Inside: It was our privilege taking care of you. We strive to give each patient excellent care. We wish you good health!
On heavy-duty card stock, with the cover laminated (slick, water resistant coating). Leaffan, did you get such a card? If not, I think my medical staff loves me more than yours loves you!
Of course not. They don’t get any money directly from me, so why would they care? I suppose you probably didn’t pay directly either, come to think of it.
They still haven’t called me with the results yet.
Colonoscopy this morning. I had the nurse in stitches. (At least his laughing sounded genuine.) Had the SO been there, her eyes would have been rolling out of her head. When the gastroenterologist came in, I told him that stuff they’d made me drink gave me diarrhea real bad, and that I had to drink and entire bottle of Kayopectate plus take Imodium that morning. He said, ‘You’re kidding me!’ I told him I was.
When I had the phone consultation last week, I told the person that the doc and helper(s) should wear ‘Grey alien’ masks. They didn’t. But they did have colour printouts of such masks and held them to their faces. I appreciated that.
We went through Sonic on the way home. I got a double cheeseburger and tater tots. I was hungry! I think I’ll get a slice of chocolate cream pie, which the SO brought home the other day.
[QUOTE=Bullitt]
All went well. The RN controlling the meds gave me the choice for lots or less, and I told him to go light so I could watch the TV monitor and discuss what was happening. … I could’ve driven home, but Mrs. Bullitt was there and she drove. I was under the influence, but not overly so.
[/QUOTE]
Trust me, you were wasted. Versed and/or Propofol will carve odd little bites out of your consciousness.
My husband recently had a more technically involved ultrasound colonoscopy as followup from colorectal cancer. He was able to walk out of the endoscopy suite and navigate through the several buildings and elevators of the hospital campus to get to the parking garage with no problem. Along the way, we talked about what the doc said (clean results, yay!) and about what he wanted for an overdue breakfast. Once we were in the car and heading back up the ramp to daylight, he suddenly got mad and said we were hours late for his appointment. :eek:
I suspect I will be in a similar condition in July when I go in for a double-ended-oscopy. I just hope they use different scopes to look at my stomach and gut.
