Oh yes … I got a picture of my appendix from the inside, along with photographic proof that I have diverticulosis. Joy.
Glad everything went well. My husband wanted to take me out to lunch after mine was over, but I opted for the to-go (heh) option just in case … you should be back to normal by tomorrow morning.
Don’t be sure how clear-headed you are. I came out of my procedure feeling reasonably comfortable (mildly crampy for the next several hours, but nothing horrible), and feeling clear-headed. The following day, however, I realized that I had lots of memory holes from that afternoon.
For examples:
My driver (my brother) waited for me in the waiting room, and I awoke after the procedure in the recovery room. I realized after-the-fact that I had absolutely no recollection of where I was when I first saw him after the procdure. I don’t know if he came into the recovery room while I was still laying on the gurney, or if it was after I was able to walk out into the waiting room on my own. The attendant gave him some instructions, but I don’t know where we were when that happened.
My brother drove me to my apartment. I told him to park in a guest parking space, and pointed out where those were. But he parked in another tenant’s assigned space anyway, and I didn’t realize it. Later that evening, when he left, we found the other tenant had left a note under his windshield wiper.
Lots more little things like that.
FIT cards are actual permission to send crap in the mail (the little poop test you can do yearly in lieu of the scope)- if it is positive, you get the procedure, innuendo.
Colon cancer screening saves lives and stamps out disease, for real. Three of my relatives would have survived their colon cancers if the technologies had existed in the 1960s. My father’s was caught, he needed a half his colon removed but that was all, and he lived long enough for dementia to produce the classic answer “What do you mean, I had colon cancer?”.
I’ve had one. I do the cards now. Will get another at 65- and wouldn’t bother with the cards except my sister has a 3 year schedule for polyps. Another family member had one, the polyps were cancerous, but the procedure took it all- no surgery needed, but repeat in a year (ugh).
Congrats to you for recognizing the wisdom of taking advantage of modern testing techniques. So much better than colon cancer. I can’t even say how much better they are.
It seems like many people (sorry that I’m a sexist but I have to say most are men) have this attitude like, “Real men don’t do stuff like that.”
These people won’t take booster shots because out of every million shots given, two people out of the million actually develop some bad symptoms where as the other 999,998 are immunized against some terrible diseases.
The won’t take colonoscopies for similar reasons (wholly nonsense reasons). It’s sad. But I have to admit that if someone takes a booster shot and something bad happens to him as a result, it’s easy to understand why others will refuse the shot.
But still, one day, people will look back at this phenomena and laugh at these people in a way akin to the way we laugh at people who were certain the world was flat.
It’s sad because laughing at them tends to make some of them refuse to undergo these tests even harder than they would before. But it still is a real sad state of affairs.
My memory up to leaving the hospital are a little shaky, but after that I recall everything. We went food shopping right after that, came home, took a short nap, and everything has been fine since then.
I remember feeling slightly buzzed as the anesthesia hit my system from the IV and then nothing until after the procedure. I have no idea if I was conscious and aware during the procedure; I didn’t ask the nurse. But if I was I have no memory. From there to the recovery is pretty hazy, and I have a vague recollection of getting dressed and my wife meeting me in the waiting room, and the fact that she moved the car while I was under. I’ll ask her tonight about how I was when I came out of the office.
The nurse said don’t drive, operate machinery, or spend time on the computer that day. She said people reported not remembering sending mail or posting things - I should go over my posting history and Sent folder. 
Excuse me?
OK, that’s funny.
Ouch. Sorry to hear about that.
I was really pleased with my picture and, being mellow, showed it to my son and DIL on the drive home, saying, “See. Pink and smooth as a baby’s behind.” We only live 14 blocks from the hospital, so I was still mellow when I got home and still enjoying the picture. Apparently I said my happy little phrase more times than I remember saying it.
Timely thread. I own stock in a company that has a new stool screening kit in development. The new kit doesn’t just test for blood or existing cancer in the stool, it can actually find DNA signifying the presence of suspicious developing polyps.
So far the chances are excellent that the test will be approved by the FDA. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that it will happen; not only will the stockholders benefit financially, that means I can opt for this test from now on. No more fasting and drinking laxatives by the gallon!
Do you know that the colonoscopy is optional?
Optional yes, but stupid for most people to pass up IMO.
I discussed it with my doctor and we agreed that it was a good idea. All treatments are optional, but that doesn’t make them unwise.
Probably way too late (just spotted this thread) but my go-to for prep is to visit the nearby pho (Vietnamese noodle soup) shop and get 2-3 quarts of just plain broth. Much nicer than canned, and the warmth can be really nice as you can get chilled between all the cold stuff you have to drink, and being bare-assed for hours.
I don’t understand why we in the U.S. are given a horrible concoction to drink, whist in the U.K. prep consists of swallowing two pills and lots and lots of water - plain water. Why does the U.S. medical community torture us so when it is unnecessary?
I’d guess that whatever is in those pills isn’t (at least as yet) approved by the FDA. And I can’t say that what I had to drink was all that bad - Gatorade mixed with Miralax. I got to choose the flavor, as long as the color of the drink wasn’t red or purple.
It’s the … outcome … that was the most unpleasant part of the whole thing, and there’s really nothing you can do about that (until and unless **teela’s **company comes up with a better solution!).
The outcome is uncomfortable, but I thought the stuff I had to drink was horrible. When this comes 'round again for me, I’m going to demand an alternative if they haven’t created one yet.
The pills in the US are OsmoPrep (sodium phosphate) and they’re pretty vile plus the risk (small) of kidney damage. There is a newly approved prep involving sodium picosulfate which has been available in the UK and Canada for a while but was just approved here. I used it last fall and it was better than the pills. You have to order the stuff a few days in advance as most pharmacies don’t keep it I stock.
And whatever you do, dont schedule your scope in a clinic 2.5 hours away from home like my husband did. Driving a Prep-in-Progress person to their appointment is a harrowing experience for everyone involved. (Willy Makit?)
And if you do … start your journey exactly 3.5 hours before show-time to allow for frequent rest area stops (or bushes. Whatever.) Also, be sure to put something waterproof on your leather seats … just IN CASE.
And then the trip home with a woozy farting person who now has the judgment capacity of a lizard due to the Joy Juice. Be sure you do this in weather that allows for OPEN WINDOWS.
Had to drink the stuff in Thailand too. But it wasn’t horrible. Horror stories had prepared me for some sort of milky gunk, but it was a lot like Gatorade really.
Drinking the two doses was pretty awful, I will admit. IMO, it was more unpleasant than the results. The second dose in particular, on an empty stomach, took me a few attempts.
I get my first one next week. For an extra, added bonus, I’ll have to have the hospital call me a cab, because I’ve got no one available to be my ride.
Being single really sucks sometimes.