Prepping for Monday at noon. The past few days have been weird. We’ve succeeded in changing our diets to include more high fiber, unprocessed fruits and veggies, seeds and nuts… Pretty much just what I’m NOT supposed to eat! We had to buy a loaf of wheat bread that is basically cake.
One more meal before a day of jello, broth and apple juice - then the high volume prep. Already looking forward to Monday evening’s meal!
I had Propofol. I was awake, then I was asleep, then I was awake again. It was like a light switch and 10 minutes later, other than being hungry, I felt 100%. Of course my wife drove, but I felt fine.
Scoped yesterday. Clean as a whistle. So 10 years before I get to repeat that pleasure.
Not sure what folk find so difficult about the gallon prep. I mean - it isn’t how I would CHOOSE to spend any random evening, but it really wasn’t a big deal. And the clear liquid day Sunday and fasting thru noon Mon mainly convinced me how well/over fed I am as a general matter. Not a big deal to go 36 hrs w/o a solid meal. Should probably do that more often.
No idea what they put in the drip, but it knocked me right out until I woke up in a recovery room. Upon waking and for the rest of the day I felt basically capable of anything I wanted, but I took advantage of the instructions to lie around farting and being lazy.
The weirdest thing was where the procedure was done. It was at a Duly surgical center in a Chicago suburb. Basically the main floor of a large suburban office building. I was not prepared for the number of procedures being done there. There was a quite large waiting room with maybe 30 people sitting around. No idea how many were patients vs drivers. My doc was running early. I got there at 11 for a noon procedure - they called me no later than 11:15.
They walked me back to a “prep” area which had at least 30 cell-like areas around the outside with sliding glass doors and curtains. Immediately struck me as resembling something futuristic - like a movie where they show a great number of identical cells. Or like industrial farming! :D.
I stripped, a nurse put in an IV, and the anaesthologist spoke with me, and I was wheeled to the procedure room w/in 10-15 minutes. The room looked basically like any generic office in any generic building - but with a bunch of equipment named in it. Just seemed different from my idea of most medical facilities. They laid me on my side and knocked me out.
I woke up alone in a curtained area. Had the feeling of waking from sleep having had a pleasant dream I couldn’t quite remember. Felt in full control of my mind and body. A nurse came in and asked if I felt able to sit up. I said, “Yes” so she had me dress and sit in a chair while she fetched me juice and cookies. Then she got a wheelchair and wheeled me out. Again, there was a long row of curtained recovery areas that reminded me of industrial animal raising.
I think we were driving home no later than 12:15 or so. Back home less than 2 hours after we had left.
Like I said, pretty painless - including the big drink.
I disliked the lack of food the day before much more than the prep.
I had one last week - in a large, modern Montreal hospital. Went through the 4-liter prep, and the taste wasn’t so bad - a lemon flavor. Light sedation, and the only thing I felt was the tube going through the first couple of inches. I saw my innards live, in living color, so I knew that the tube was doing its work.
I felt slightly dizzy leaving the recovery room, but that wore off fast. It was good I had someone to take me home.
Only comments on the doctor’s report were:
“The quality of the preparation was excellent.
Redundancy of the colon was found.
Tortuosity of the colon was found.
Otherwise normal colon.”
You got milk and cookies?!? We got squat.
They found redundant colon in me, too. We have a bit more yardage than the average person.
I always stress about that well in advance, to the point of acquiring the necessary Jello (pineapple; the only allowed color I can tolerate) well in advance, and of course we ALWAYS get pho the Saturday before, with 2 or 3 extra quarts of broth.
Then I stay up fairly late on the Saturday, and sleep as long as possible on the Sunday, so I really don’t have that many hours where I’m awake and unable to eat, before the purge begins.
You wouldn’t think so to look at me, but I can actually do without food for a fairly long time - I’ve been awake for 3+ hours now and have not eaten, for example.
So aside from the stressing, that’s actually the least troublesome part for me. The first time, where I was on TWO days of clear liquids, that was a bit rough especially since we were flying home from the desert Southwest the first of the two days.
I was supposedly put in to light sleep for my first one, but I never slept and I remember it well. No pain, and I gather I entertained the doctor with my excited patter. We immediately headed to the Culvers across from the medical center when I was done. I was craving junk food and got a corn dog.
I finally had someone take me up on my offer to drive people to their procedures. A former colleague of my husband, who lives about 120 miles away. Long driving day, especially since he had told me a time that was much earlier than the actual appointment.
All went well, though he was the last appointment of the day and likely waited around quite some time after they took him back. It was actually sad to see him, as he’s had numerous health issues and looks very, very frail.
I kept on getting reminders that I was due for one (after only three years!) but the order vanished. I sent a message to my doctor asking for an order, and I heard back that they now only do it after a physical, which I have scheduled for July anyhow. I’m in no hurry.
I never needed a physical before, but I was under 70 last time. Anyone also run into this?
Not personally, but I go directly to the gastro for gut-related issues, I see him annually, and he writes the order.
If your primary care doc is the one who orders it, it makes sense that they’d want to at least see you first (similarly not an issue for me as with my other chronic conditions, i see her several times a year).
Interestingly, after a certain age, they no longer recommend routine screening coloniscopies - I was reminded of that in the waiting room last week as another woman was told her husband was fine and would never need to do it again. I guess after you hit 70 or so, and have no history of polyps, they figure you’re not as likely to develop anything scary.
Sigh - I suspect that I will still be doing this well after that age, given my history.
Colonoscopy doc told me after my last one (age 73) that since I was polyp-free for my last two I don’t need another one. Which led me to wonder if it’s a case of “something else is likely to get you before a colon problem does.”
Sorry about your situation.
That and I believe that your innards change and you are at a higher risk for damage.
Beavis and Butthead have some new episodes, airing on Comedy Central. One I had Tivo’ed and watched last night was called “River”.
You know in the “old days” when they made fun of videos? Nowadays, they’re also doing that with YouTube and TikTok videos, and that episode has one where they feature a female plumber with her own YT channel; she disconnects a toilet and places a video camera on a hose down it to find a piece of hardware a previous plumber left behind. B&B start talking about how doctors do that to people starting at age 50, “because it’s cool, I guess.”
I’m 5’1". After 2 cups of food I feel bloated. I almost vomited after my last prep.
I can’t drink a gallon all at once, either. I drank as much as i comfortably could, and waited for it it to move out of my stomach, and then repeated the process.
Many people do.
That’s one reason why, if you get one of those large-volume preps, they say to drink a few ounces at a time, every half-hour or so.
Yeah, that’s how I did it, but it just wasn’t moving anywhere until about 3 hours later. Yuck. The morning prep went down a bit easier. Luckily, I don’t need to do it again for 10 years, and by then we’ll all be swallowing a pill and drinking water.
My concern about the gallon prep is nor so much the volume - pretty much every alternative has you drinking a similar amount of other liquids - but the fact that the prep itself is so vile. I have issues with taste and texture in general. Something smaller volume, with other liquids, goes down a lot more easily.
I recommend a straw. Shove the straw far back in your mouth, past most of your tongue. Then you barely taste the stuff before swallowing.