You may want to ask, before the next go-round, about a split regimen or other tweak - since excessive time between prep and procedure can make it harder to spot problems in some parts of the bowel.
Though I will absolutely admit that it’d be nice to not have to go through the fun part twice!
I hope they follow up on your suggestion to NOT CALL ON PREP DAY. That’s pretty boneheaded! I guess another advantage of a Monday procedure is that will never happen to me!
@hajario - here’s hoping they fix things. What a pain in the… neck.
Interesting data about the split regimen. Yeah, I’ll have to pursue that.
I’m up and waiting. A little thirsty, a little hungry. I have an hour and a half until my ride is scheduled to pick me up. Might take a nap while I wait
My husband is doing one tomorrow. So this all feels timely. He had a light breakfast and is on clear liquids until the event. He’s enjoying a large cup of tea now.
I had no caffeine restrictions last time i did this. Which is good, because if i go off caffeine suddenly i get migraines. I had a cup of tea (no milk) the morning of the procedure. They wanted to know the exact time, because they were worried about liquid in my stomach for the endoscopy i had at the same time (well, right before) but there was no problem.
If it’s easy for you to drop caffeine for the day, great, but if you have any concerns you can call the doctor’s office and ask. I’ve asked about more trivial things, and had a nurse call back and answer all my questions.
I weighed myself before, and just after the procedure, and had GAINED 4 pounds.
Then over the next couple of days, where I was eating almost nothing due to the Ozempic, somehow my weight cropped up THREE MORE POUNDS. WTF??? It’s down, but still not down to what I weighed last Monday morning.
I ate lunch and took a nap. Feeling pretty good right now. I’ll be a good boy and take it easy, though.
Procedure itself was 20 min, I’m told. The facility is only 10 minutes from my house. They were pretty on-the-ball with paperwork and process, but still cross checking everything. Seemed to be a very well run, efficient setup.
I have mine done at a facility owned by the medical group that includes my gastro, and that’s all they do there.
A friend had hers at a local hospital (same friend I nagged until she got one). The pre-procedure process was definitely longer there. Not excessively so, but even though it was the endoscopy suite versus a general OR, it just all took longer.
The friend I took last year went to a VA medical center. I don’t know how long it took from the time they called him back, to when they did his procedure, but he was definitely back there at least 2.5 hours.
All in all, the smallest place was definitely the most efficient.
The procedure itself is, as noted, fairly quick; pretty sure last year’s took maybe 20 minutes from when lights went out, to when I opened an eye enough to check my watch. And that was, as this year, “north and south” (which was how I answered one of the many staff members who asked “what are you having done today”. She cracked up).
Part of the time difference is how long it takes you to recover from the sedation. I accompanied my mom, and it was a LONG time between when they started the procedure itself and when she woke up. (And then she freaked out, and they called me back into the “no visitors” area to try to calm her down. But that’s another story.)
I was pleasantly surprised at how quickly I woke up this time. I vividly recall after my first one four years ago, I had three different times in the afternoon where I realized how groggy I had been, but was more awake ‘now.’ So I kept thinking “I’m ok now” until a few hours later, when I realized I wasn’t.
I mentioned this to the anesthesiologist, and she said they don’t include as much in the cocktail as some other places, and that she thought I’d wake up pretty easily. She was right. I took a nap when I got home, and an hour later I felt wide awake, and never looked back. I did take it easy, just to be safe.
Today is my fast day. I had some leftover pizza at 11:45pm last night. I have my first SuPrep in ten hours. I’ll be eating my first jello in (not coincidentally) five years soonish.
I had mine in 2021. I was awake, then I was asleep, then I was awake. There was seemingly no transition. I was dressed and waiting to speak to the doctor 5 minutes later.
Yeah - they really have the sedation amounts etc. down to a science these days. The room tilts, then I’m enjoying a gentle wakeup.
Interestingly, I found that on at least one occasion, they gave me fentanyl. I had thought it was always just propofol. No biggie - I know fentanyl is commonly used, and I’ve had it for other procedures (like my cataract surgery).
The two most common sedatives are propofol OR midazolam with fentanyl. Propofol is a stronger sedative, and you generally need an anesthesiologist to administer it and to make sure you keep breathing. But you also don’t need a painkiller with it. It’s very popular because most people wake quickly from propofol, and feel fine, unlike feeling groggy from midazolam.
I’m the unlucky one who took a long time to recover from propofol and then felt horrible. My mom was, too.
Yeesh. I’m glad you found a replacement driver. What a pain! (for both you AND the original driver).
Yeah, I was surprised when the nurse I spoke with the next day said I’d had fentanyl at some point. I’ve had 10 colonoscopies, and 2 standalone upper GIs (aside from ones where they also did the colonoscopy) and had thought I’d always had propofol. I’ve had the other mix at least twice, that I know of (for my cataract surgeries). I didn’t realize that the fentanyl was to provide pain relief, but I guess it makes sense.
For me, luckily, the worst trouble I’ve had with propofol is that it hurts like hell when they inject it into the hand. This time (and one other), they did it through the vein in the elbow, which I’d been told was less likely to hurt - and that proved correct both times.
The third approach is to just do it without sedation. Then you don’t need to find a driver, and the recovery consists of wiping any excess lube off and getting dressed.
That’s what I do. And I talked my husband into it. He says it was uncomfortable (like gas cramps) but not painful, and he was glad not to have to deal with sedation/rides/etc. I didn’t even find it especially uncomfortable, except briefly, going around one curve.