Colonoscopy

One of the joys (??) of turning 50 is that it's routine for doctors to send their patients in for a colonoscopy.

Mine was today.

I had to start the prep work on Tuesday morning with fasting.  That meant no food 'til after the procedure.  Yes, that's almost 60 hours without food!

I could have clear liquids like herbal tea, consumme, 7Up, water, etc  Surprisingly Jello was also on the list.  I stuck with water, Sprite Lite and gum.

There were two cleanses to do on Tuesday evening.

At 4pm, I had to quickly drink 150ml of magnesium citrate.  My pharmacist gave me lemon flavored and it was really lemony ... and nasty!  But I chugged it back.

Then at 6pm, I had to drink two litres (eight cups) of Klean Prep (its pouches you mix with water in the plastic container) ... 250ml (one cup) every ten minutes.  This was vanilla flavoured but it didn't matter ... it too was nasty.  But I chugged it back.  And two litres of water in that short of a time span was a lot.  But I got it done.

Just over three hours after the start of the cleansing, things started moving ... and so was I ... very quickly!  Surprisingly it was mostly liquid.  Then I had to repeat yesterday what I did on Tuesday (fasting and cleansing last night).

I've talked with others who had prepped for it and theirs was a bit different.  They did their cleansing for only one night, only had one day of fasting but used different cleanses ... but it sounds like their "movements" were more explosive and frequent.

My appointment was at 8:15 this morning.  They put me out for it but I kinda woke up during it.  I could sense that something was happening down there but was too drowsy to feel it or care.  By 8:50am I was wheeled into the recovery room and chilled for an hour while the valium wore off.  Alas, I didn't have the delicious nap the others had talked about.  Then they gave me a glass of apple juice and a couple digestive cookies.

Then I saw the doctor who performed the procedure.  Good news ... no cancer or polyps!  Yay!  And no more colonoscopies for another ten years.  Yay!

Because of the drugs they use to put me out, I was advised not to transit or drive home ... to have someone come and get me.  My intention was to grab a cab home and at the hospital they were okay with that.  When I left the hospital, the streetcar was there so I took it.  I feel fine.

I must admit that I wasn't looking forward to this procedure ... who would?  The worst part, I discovered, was not being able to eat for two days.  I don't do hunger well.  Everything else wasn't as bad as I was expecting.  And I'm down 5.2 pounds!

I woke up yesterday morning about 5:30am craving a turkey sub ... so that's what I got for lunch on my home today.  Needless to say, I inhaled it!  Yum-mee!