It’s all gone and today I’m making rice pudding, which also works for my husband’s current digestion issues. Of course, now that I know I can’t have any, I want more.
And if somebody gives me NO2, which isn’t used here, except in hospitals, have a vomit bucket ready. I had too much as a child and don’t do well with it.
I’m glad that I don’t have a car, don’t need one, and live near good public transport (though I haven’t used public transport much since the beginning of the pandemic.) These days I walk most places.
It all went well! Both the procedure and the results.
They said I do have hemorrhoids (sorry for TMI,) but I knew that already. They said that the things I’m already doing are good (psyllium, nutritionist, etc.)
How’d it, er, go today?
I suspect you did not get nitrous - well, not sure where you are, but in the US the drugs of choice tend to be either Versed (or similar) or Propofol (a.k.a. Milk of Amnesia). I always get Propofol which works quite well, except it hurts like hell when they inject it.
Mine is 4 weeks from today. I had dental work scheduled for this past Friday - and they texted me a Covid questionnarie beforehand. “Have you had this, that, or the other symptom”. 1) no. 2) no. 3 (runny nose): “Er yes, but I’m pretty sure it’s just allergies”. “Oh, well just for our safety and yours, let’s reschedule; how’s April 5th at 10 AM?” “Um, probably not, I may not be done with my colonoscopy by then!”.
Now, I’ll already be sedated (and as I’m dentist-phobic, I usually DO have something on board for procedures) and it’s not like they’d be working in the same area, I really don’t see why they couldn’t combine the two…but everyone I’ve mentioned this to seems to think the professionals won’t go for the suggestion. So it’s later that same week.(and the sniffles were completely gone by Friday).
I’ll just have to make sure I’m using my Nasacort for a few days before both of these, to avoid any schedule-busting sniffles.
The first nurse had problems finding a vein in my left arm, so then the second nurse went for a vein in the right arm, so I ended up with bandages on both arms. The last thing I remember before the procedure was the second nurse telling me the stuff she was injecting might burn. The next thing was the end of the hose and the doctor doing the hemmorrhoid check, which was slightly uncomfortable.
Same as last time, the doctor found one polyp, but in a different spot. He doesn’t think it’s a problem, but it will get tested as a matter of policy.
And I started taking allergy meds Friday to make sure there were no sniffles today.
No Covid test, no questionnaire and they didn’t even take my temperature. Just my blood pressure.
And I managed to read > 50% of a book, which I’ve read before.
I don’t remember feeling much or any pain. A bit of a pinprick when first injected, but not bad. I was singing a song inside my head at the time to calm myself, which I find helps.
Glad you got good news, after all that.
Popping with my own report.
Coffee would have been fine (was explicitly on my list), though without creamer of any sort. As I’m not a coffee drinker that was a non-issue. I think Coke and Pepsi were permitted as well. I had some San Pellegrino juice beverages that involved orange and grapefruit juices - which may or may not have been OK but neither had any pulp (nor any artificial coloring - I checked carefully), and I was told my cleanout was adequate, so I won’t worry about it.
I started the “no fiber” diet on Friday - same day as I had to quit using Welchol (cholesterol med, used in my case to prevent diarrhea). I was rather terrified - as I told the gastro once, if I miss the Welchol, all hell breaks loose, but that did not happen.
The prep was ClenPiq - the new pre-mixed version of PrepoPik (I have to assume the patent ran out). Thick and syrupy which I did not like, the taste was no better or worse than the mix-it-yourself version. Weirdly, it said “do not chill”. It helped having a fizzy soft drink to alternate and cut the taste.
I let them schedule me for an 8 AM slot, which of course meant starting the second dose of the prep at 3 AM - which I thought would be a problem. What I wound up doing was taking round 1 a bit early (2 PM), then when that wore off I slept for about 7-8 hours before getting up at 2 AM. And there was basically no traffic getting to the clinic.
They did the IV in the crook of the elbow - my one good vein; he didn’t see anything good on my hand. Starting the IV was nearly painless. I told him “Oh come on, you can make it hurt more than THAT!”. He snickered. As a side benefit, when using that vein the propofol doesn’t hurt going in.
Lights out, and I came to afterward with my phone sounding about 3 different tunes to try to wake me up - I forgot to turn off all the regular weekday alarms!! Whoops. And I don’t know what was going on but when I saw the IV after I woke up, there was visible Propofol in the tube leading to my arm. Obviously enough got into me to do what was needed. It may hit faster when going in that vein too, I have only a split second memory of feeliing woozy - usually it’s 2-3 seconds at least.
Unfortunately, my ability to grow polyps has improved with age so I’m back to a 2-year interval (versus 3) before my next one. Woohoo. Or something. Beats the alternative. Unlikely it’s already cancerous - doc said that it typically does not show cancer unless the polyp is 1 cm or larger - but it will be tested just to be sure.
I asked the doc “how many do I have to have before I get one free?” and he said “Thirteen”. I might just make that! 
The place I get my scoping done at actually guarantees everyone is in-network, or they cover the difference.
As for Welchol - glad to hear it works for you. I tried it for similar reasons as you as I suddenly had the silly squirts after my gallbladder was removed. No huge improvement so I gave up on it. I probably should get rid of it.
Bummer (hah). Mine developed years after the gallbladder went walkabout. I mean, I had a little trouble right after, as I think most people do, but then it resolved; started gradually becoming more of a problem over the past few years and in the past year, it got bad enough that I actually sought treatment for it. It’s a balancing act with me, too much also causes problems. Adding a lot of fiber to the diet can help, though when my doctor suggested I try Metamucil rather than big bowls of raisin bran (because of the carbs), that helped… until it didn’t, rather spectacularly. I called the gastro that day.
Gastro agrees with me that ‘Farting without Fear’ would be an excellent name for a very weird self-help book.
Oh that would be PERFECT! After my recent sigmoid colectomy, my mantra has been “You cannot trust a fart!”
This isn’t me, but my mother instead, who was admitted to the hospital yesterday with rectal bleeding and abdominal pain (and I didn’t find out until this afternoon; thanks, Dad - but he was certainly preoccupied with all this). She’s having a scope tomorrow, and they think it’s most likely diverticular disease, which Dad also had (and they removed about 18 inches of his colon) but we’ll see.
I wasn’t fearful when Dad was sick, but I am this time. They’re both 87 and in otherwise pretty good health.
Prayers for good news tomorrow.
Thanks.
My extended family has been through a lot this past year (not a branch from which I directly spring) and I’m definitely hoping this ends up being NBD, relatively speaking.
Good luck for your mom! Hopefully it winds up being something she can manage with diet or medication vs having bits of her bits removed.
Wishing the best to all those in this thread, and their loved ones, who are undergoing the procedure.
Mom update: Colitis. Not fun either, but nowhere near as bad as I feared.
I was having images of it coming back as Stage IVB cancer and her being admitted to hospice, that kind of thing. I was out for a while this afternoon, and when I came home to find 0 messages on my answering machine (yes, I do still have one, with a landline) I figured it was probably good news, and sure enough, there it was on Facebook.
Glad to hear your fears weren’t confirmed.
Mom update II: She was discharged from the hospital earlier today, and the diagnosis was Ischemic Colitis. The GI doc said it was a very small area that was starting to heal, and did not order any new medication, nor is she on any dietary restrictions.
So, it was a scary thing that ended up not being that big of a deal.
It’s wonderful to hear that!