Thanks.
My message would be:
Had polyps! No Cancer!
And just want to say that next time I’m doing it without anesthesia. I couldn’t find a doctor to do it where I live.
NIH says it’s statistically not worth it over the age of 75.
I had one five or six years ago.
It was pretty boring, all things considered.
I had to drink about a gallon of some stuff – I forget the name – to clean out the system, I guess.
Then, in the morning, I went to the doctor’s office.
No anesthesia, but he gave me some kind of sedative. I remember him telling me to count down from twenty, and I asked him if we were ready to go. He told me we were done.
That’s it. That’s the whole story.
I sat in his office for a few minutes to clear my head, then took the subway home.
This is the reason I probably won’t get one. I don’t have someone to drive me or stay with me. But, I wonder if you couldn’t hire someone to hang out for the day off of craigslist?
There are bonded services that will do that for you. Your doctor may have a list of them.
I understand about 1 in 800 colonoscopies results in a tear. That’s not much of a risk. I think the overall recommendations for colonoscopies take this risk and other issues (cost, false positives, anesthesia risks, etc) into account and still conclude colonoscopies are worth doing overall. Certainly I plan to keep getting them, especially considering that Grandfather Napier died of colon cancer.
This is probably going to be on my to do list for spring break.
The worst part for me is the prep. I had no problems with my first one and the doc was amazed that I wanted to watch the monitor. I commented on my last meal during the procedure and experienced no pain and not much discomfort. I can only hope my second one goes just as, umm… smoothly.
But why oh why do we have to drink the aquarium water? In the UK, you just get two pills and a recommended amount of clear liquids to drink.
When I had my first colonoscopy, some twenty years ago, they gave me some pumpkin spice flavored liquid in a little covered cup. I barely made it into the bathroom. Then I had to do enemas, and had to drink all of the liquid that came in the big gallon jug.
I need to clarify that in the UK, my ex didn’t get the liquids, but was able to just drink tap water and ginger ale.
Just the idea of a pumpkin-spiced colonoscopy prep makes me queasy. Suprep is bad enough. The advice my doc gave was to mix it with lemon-lime Gatorade, keep it in the fridge so it’s cold and chug it down before your tongue has a chance to notice it. Worked out pretty well, actually.
Another vote for doing it without anesthesia. I think it’s more painful for some people than for others. I found it unpleasantly crampy for a few minutes here and there, but much less painful than the part of labor you do before they offer any anesthesia. It only hurt going in, and they do the exam on the way out. So I was pretty comfortable as I watched the exam, which I found quite interesting.
And then I drove myself to a friend’s house and played board games. Much nicer than spending the day recovering from sedation.
Yeah, I logged in to see if I was close enough. Fraid not.
Thanks, guys.