Today I am doing a “speech from the throne” entry.
Why, because I am following the doctor’s orders, and I am writing about it.
There is nothing royal about my speech from the throne. Those of us who have lost a loved one to colon cancer probably know all about my situation. Every five years we have a colonoscopy, to check our colons for cancer. My last colonoscopy was early this year.
If recommended, a colonoscopy is a marvellous tool. My Dad died of colon cancer, which could have been caught early by colonoscopy, or sample checks even. So I and my siblings all have colonoscopies every five years. My last procedure found a pre-cancerous polyp which was removed. Lots to be grateful for, and the preparations are worth the misery.
So why am I sitting here, on the throne, writing this entry already. It should be five years from now that I do this again, yes?
Well, I have other internal issues that impact the colon, and a lot of my other internal organs. The problem began with the removal of appendix when I was about five months pregnant with my first daughter. Everyone who had surgery on that day developed internal infections. I was in hospital for quite some time, the pregnancy was at risk, but I and my daughter made it through.
It wasn’t over for me, and continues to plague me. The scar tissue from the infection has been problematic. Some of the issues were addressed in the 70s with surgeries. But other issues were harder to diagnose, and they were not diagnosed, for various reasons it just never worked out.
Now my new GP is on the case. First things first, the colon needs to heal from issues that accumulated over fifty years.
So I am cleansing the bowel in anticipation of healing the bowel. It is the first step in a process. I have found that sitting on the throne for eight hours is easiest on the tush, and cleaner. Do people talk about such things, not often if at all. But here I am, inspired to share the experience, from the distance of a keyboard.
I am getting better at these “colonoscopy preparations”, however, I think I will always dread having to go through this process.
I have with me my three measured amounts of water to drink hourly. I have beside me my flask of gatorade. I have before me my laptop on the tray table. I have my sectioned baby wipes (a game changer) ready for action. I am all set to go, ha!
That was my day all day yesterday. It will be my morning today.
I will be glad when it is over, and then I will go on a liquid diet for a little while, then gradually add solids and fibre until I am back to my regular diet. But I will continue to take medications to mediate the healing until my consult with a specialist, which could take a year or more, but it is now part of “the plan”.
When this process winds down, and after I’ve had a peach smoothie, I hope to get out for a walk and enjoy this beautiful, sunny, and relatively mild day.
My message from the throne: colonoscopies are not fun, but they can save your life, so if indicated go for it!! You just might be swapping one miserable day for years of wonderful days.
P.S. Sorry, no pictures.
Worldly
Weather
17°C
Date: 8:00 AM EDT Saturday 2 August 2025
Condition: Sunny
Pressure: 102.7 kPa
Tendency: Rising
Temperature: 16.6°C
Dew point: 9.4°C
Humidity: 62%
Wind: NW 4 km/h
Visibility: 24 km
Quote
“The key to non-anxious sermon-writing is that it’s not about me. It’s about the congregation. I honor the fact that the listeners bring more to the sermon than I do. I remind myself of the hundreds of times someone says, ‘I loved how you said…’ and then tell me things that they heard that were nowhere in my text and that I never said. But they heard what they needed to hear.”
Reverend Sean Parker Dennison
Great PSA message, Maggie. While the process is unpleasant, at least there is a plan!
“Sorry, no pictures,” made me giggle!
Thanks Wendy! Yes, exactly, a plan! I can be patient now, the plan is in place, and I am confident that if it needs tweaking my GP is interactive and flexible so that all will be optimized. I would like to avoid doing this part of the process again though! 🙂
I do have a picture from the spring of my throne room “office”, but I can’t find it, and I am presently unable to entertain photographs.
I hope the endeavor goes smoothly and you get good results.
Thank you Joan! I am optimistic that there will be improvement if not total resolution when the process is complete.
I saw an article the other day saying that other tests are now just as good as colonoscopies. Unfortunately, I can’t find any confirmation of that. *sigh* I live in hope that it’s true.
Teri, that would be so amazing, not having to do the preparation. Every time I do it, it wears me down more than the last prep. This time I slept all afternoon after finishing the process, so exhausting.
If you ever run into the information on viable alternatives, I would love to hear about it!
Well, I did find commentaries that virtual colonoscopies using an MRI are essentially the same results as a physical colonoscopy.
Thanks for the tip re MRI virtual colonoscopies.
The only virtual colonoscopies I found involved CT scans, I’ve had that procedure I think, the preparation was the same.
For me, the down side is that I develop polyps, which require a colonoscopy to remove, so I’d probably have to do the preparation twice, once for the virtual, then a second time to remove the polyps.
Yeah, I think that’s my error. I think you’re probably right about it being a CTscan.
I can’t envy you, but you do make it sound tolerable, and your no-picture remark made me laugh.
Kate, it is hard to put a positive spin on a colonoscopy preparation procedure, I did my best to render it fit for polite society. 🙂