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I had been putting this off for years. Everyone over 50 should do it, of course, as well as anyone with a family history colon cancer - still one of the top killers, but curable. My brother's was pretty advanced when they found his in his late 40s, and it took a lot of neighbors working for a year to get him to treatment an hour away every day, as well as help me run the farm & cow operation, but we live in a good area, and he had a great doctor, so we got it done. Eight years later and the doctor has discharged him...!!
Still, I put mine off year to year - afraid they might find something I rather not know about, which is dumb as earlier is much better, and - I thought it'd be a horrible experience, butt in the air all morning, painful machine up my rectum, etc. Others told me it was not such a bad experience, but of course I discounted those comments as well meaning encouragement. I had no idea how easy it would be....
My close call with a clogged vein in October got me to start catching up on my medical stuff, and I finally set this up. Let me tell you how easy it was - okay? In case you or someone you know should do it....
The day before fasting was not a big deal. No coffee, no milk, no food - just clear liquids, but apple juice really is an okay substitute for coffee, so it wasn't so bad. I ate a huge dinner the night before that, then drank two or three quarts of apple juice - no big deal.
Okay, I will admit that there were a few hours the evening before that were not fun - drinking a gallon of laxative. That is a lot of liquid to down in seven hours, you cannot gulp it as it will gag you if you try, and - with 128 ounces of cold liquid, I did get chilled, but it's just something to do. Eight ounces every 30 minutes while playing on the computer or watching TV, just work thru it.
Yes, you do need ready access to a private privy - no one else allowed in, as you will pass everything in your gut plus most of the gallon of liquid in that seven hours. I don't know, maybe 20 sudden trips, maybe it just seemed like that many, but it is just something to work thru.
Okay, now for some honesty: I took a break for a nap, got behind and was still trying to catch up past midnight, cutting into my "NPO after midnight" orders and I really didn't finish. After seven of the eight pints, I was passing nothing but light yellow water, so at 1am I called it a night, showered and shaved, went to bed. There were some more passings during the night and first thing in the morning - all light yellow - I was clean. Close enough....!
Got up at 7am the next morning, checked my email, and headed for the doctors 30 minutes away. There, I was told to take off everything but my socks and put on the gown, but I kept my cap on. Asked about that, I explained: "I'm cold young lady," and nothing more was said. It stayed.
Another young lady came in to start the sedative drip, looked at my veins seriously, and I explained: "The scars are from years of donating blood, nothing else hon." Went on to explain that I was a big donor but can't now because of my trips to Central America, which lead to Scuba talking, how she wanted to try it, and I may have her lined up for a Discover Scuba session next weekend in Balmorhea, but back to the story...
She left, then the two young ladies came back together, had me roll on my left side, and I went to sleep. I was sleepy anyway, but they told me later that I started talking about Scuba again so they took me a little deeper. I only hope I wasn't trying to flirt with the cutie who is interested in Scuba. Never noticed the doctor come in or anything else. Maybe 20 minutes later I awoke, asked when we were starting, and they said we were thru. "Oh....!"
My daughter had come up to drive me home, so I asked her to come back for the report: "Removed a couple of harmless looking polyps, found some other things that suggested you're not young anymore. We'll send you a letter in three years to come back." That was it. Not a biggie at all!!!
No solid food was allowed for two hours, but coffee was, so I was in good shape. In fact, by the time the doc got around to seeing me and we finally left, I decided to drive my pickup home with my daughter following. Nope, no one should do that, but it went fine. Got home, drank some milk, two hours later we went out for Mexican. Sent my daughter home with my thanks, took a long nap.
Oh yes, there was a lot of gas to pass, as they pump it in for better viewing I guess, but oh well. A minor thing. And that's about it. I'll do a better job with the liquid in 2009, or maybe they'll have better ways by them.
Still, I put mine off year to year - afraid they might find something I rather not know about, which is dumb as earlier is much better, and - I thought it'd be a horrible experience, butt in the air all morning, painful machine up my rectum, etc. Others told me it was not such a bad experience, but of course I discounted those comments as well meaning encouragement. I had no idea how easy it would be....
My close call with a clogged vein in October got me to start catching up on my medical stuff, and I finally set this up. Let me tell you how easy it was - okay? In case you or someone you know should do it....
The day before fasting was not a big deal. No coffee, no milk, no food - just clear liquids, but apple juice really is an okay substitute for coffee, so it wasn't so bad. I ate a huge dinner the night before that, then drank two or three quarts of apple juice - no big deal.
Okay, I will admit that there were a few hours the evening before that were not fun - drinking a gallon of laxative. That is a lot of liquid to down in seven hours, you cannot gulp it as it will gag you if you try, and - with 128 ounces of cold liquid, I did get chilled, but it's just something to do. Eight ounces every 30 minutes while playing on the computer or watching TV, just work thru it.
Yes, you do need ready access to a private privy - no one else allowed in, as you will pass everything in your gut plus most of the gallon of liquid in that seven hours. I don't know, maybe 20 sudden trips, maybe it just seemed like that many, but it is just something to work thru.
Okay, now for some honesty: I took a break for a nap, got behind and was still trying to catch up past midnight, cutting into my "NPO after midnight" orders and I really didn't finish. After seven of the eight pints, I was passing nothing but light yellow water, so at 1am I called it a night, showered and shaved, went to bed. There were some more passings during the night and first thing in the morning - all light yellow - I was clean. Close enough....!
Got up at 7am the next morning, checked my email, and headed for the doctors 30 minutes away. There, I was told to take off everything but my socks and put on the gown, but I kept my cap on. Asked about that, I explained: "I'm cold young lady," and nothing more was said. It stayed.
Another young lady came in to start the sedative drip, looked at my veins seriously, and I explained: "The scars are from years of donating blood, nothing else hon." Went on to explain that I was a big donor but can't now because of my trips to Central America, which lead to Scuba talking, how she wanted to try it, and I may have her lined up for a Discover Scuba session next weekend in Balmorhea, but back to the story...
She left, then the two young ladies came back together, had me roll on my left side, and I went to sleep. I was sleepy anyway, but they told me later that I started talking about Scuba again so they took me a little deeper. I only hope I wasn't trying to flirt with the cutie who is interested in Scuba. Never noticed the doctor come in or anything else. Maybe 20 minutes later I awoke, asked when we were starting, and they said we were thru. "Oh....!"
My daughter had come up to drive me home, so I asked her to come back for the report: "Removed a couple of harmless looking polyps, found some other things that suggested you're not young anymore. We'll send you a letter in three years to come back." That was it. Not a biggie at all!!!
No solid food was allowed for two hours, but coffee was, so I was in good shape. In fact, by the time the doc got around to seeing me and we finally left, I decided to drive my pickup home with my daughter following. Nope, no one should do that, but it went fine. Got home, drank some milk, two hours later we went out for Mexican. Sent my daughter home with my thanks, took a long nap.
Oh yes, there was a lot of gas to pass, as they pump it in for better viewing I guess, but oh well. A minor thing. And that's about it. I'll do a better job with the liquid in 2009, or maybe they'll have better ways by them.
