I passed my colonoscopy examination; healthy bowels.
After two days of a clear fluid diet, the time for the colon cleansing arrived. Yesterday afternoon the first dose of sodium phosphate was unpleasant, but bearable. I made the throne room comfortable with water jug, mug, laptop, and waited out the inevitable results. Unfortunately I gagged on the second dose, but kept it down. It began to do its magic. Then the vomiting began and would not stop. After calling Telehealth Ontario to talk to a nurse, it was off the hospital emergency as advised.
The roads here are more like a roller coaster than a drag strip. The one hour drive to the hospital was one not to be remembered fondly. Every curve, every dip and every dive, the nausea welled up. I sat on a plastic bag and towel for obvious bowel cleansing reasons, and held a bucket in front of my face to catch the effects of the roller coaster ride. What a miserable trip!
The emergency room staff were great, had me on a drip immediately to rehydrate me, and gave me some medication to control the vomiting. They did some blood tests to make sure everything was fine, and my electrolytes were just a little out of whack. Attila headed home around 2:00 a.m., having to be at work by 5:00 a.m. They let me stay in emergency until early morning, when I walked over to day surgery for the procedure. Again the staff and doctor were wonderful, and were thoroughly prepared to deal with my allergies and anaphylaxis.
The preparation for the colonoscopy is my problem.
The colonoscopy was painless and easy, nothing scary about it.
Just to put my experience into perspective, Harriet recently had a colonoscopy. She took the colon cleanser and went to work, and was fine. I just happen to react very strongly to the colon cleansing chemicals, the two I have tried so far, which isn’t unusual, but certainly isn’t the average experience either.
Harriet came to the hospital to sit by my bed in recovery, and to bring me home. Thank goodness she was there, it was wonderful to see a friendly and familiar face as I opened my eyes. Harriet took the information from the Doctor, and bundled me into her truck. The drive home was so much easier! After getting me settled in, Harriet dropped off Attila’s house keys to him at work and took herself back to the cottage. I went to bed and slept till Attila got home from work. Harriet called in the evening to check on how I was doing. She said when she got back to the cottage, she had a nap too!
The colon cleanser chemicals are still in my system. I can still taste them. The nausea is slowly abating.
Since Sunday I have wanted a toasted tomato sandwich. Harriet made one for as soon as we got home, and it tasted WONDERFUL!
Worldly Distractions
Weather
18°C
9:00 PM EDT Wednesday 7 August 2013
Condition: Clear
Pressure: 101.1 kPa
Visibility: 16 km
Temperature: 17.8°C
Dewpoint: 16.2°C
Humidity: 90%
Wind: calm
Quote
“The universe may not always play fair, but at least it’s got a hell of a sense of humor.”
Michael Patrick King
Best part is that your colon is in good shape. Worst part is all the unpleasantness you went through for it. In the end (pun intended), all is well and I’m glad to hear it. You give me courage, you know? I must undergo one of these myself and have been too cowardly to undertake it. But in the light of your fortitude, even knowing it was going to be unpleasant, you did it anyway. My hero!
Sorry to read that you had so much misery beforehand but glad to read that you had good care and a clear report.
What an ordeal! I agree with Sarah, many people avoid what they know will be painful. And it’s so good you got good news.
I think it is deplorable that the medical community cannot come up with a way to study the colon that doesn’t negatively affect so many patients. Very few go through that exam easily. My Paul has gone through it twice and he has no allergies or anything and it was awful for him, too. The prep. There should be more research done and a way found to do that study much more comfortably for the patient. Like a short hospital stay, anesthesia, and when you wake up it’s over with! We seem to be in the middle ages where arms and legs were amputated with only a swig of alcohol to ease the pain!
Glad it’s over and that you are clean.
Joan, when the experience was at its worst, I kept thinking how awful it would be if I had an undetected colon cancer, then there would be lots of these experiences. Kept telling myself that I could be saving myself a lot of similar misery in the future. An ounce of prevention thinking, only it wasn’t just an ounce of prevention, LOL.
I agree with you Bex, the prep is from the dark ages!
I have had to completely clean the bathroom twice since I got back from the hospital, because even a whiff of the prep solution makes me gag. Surely there is a better way to cleanse a bowel!!! I envy Harriet who found the prep intrusive, but could still go to work and function almost normally. My first colonscopy was with peglyte, which I could not tolerate either, lots of vomiting. Then I used sodium phosphate for the next colonoscoy, and though it was unpleasant, I didn’t have problems holding it down. But this time the sodium phosphate made me sick as well. There is one product left to try for the next colonoscopy, and I dearly hope it is more user friendly than these other products.
The Doctor was great, and the procedure was not problematic at all, I was heavily sedated and don’t remember it at all. No soreness or side effects afterwards, not bad at all. If it weren’t for the prep and my allergy I wouldn’t worry about it all.
Well, research is important is seems. For a price, out of pocket, there is an option to undergo colon hydrotherapy to cleanse the bowel before a colonoscopy. I will be looking into this very carefully indeed. If for the price of $100 I could avoid days of nausea and vomiting, and sitting on the throne for hours at a time, not to mention becoming dehydrated, then that is exactly what i will do. I am starting to save for it right now. I have five years lead time on this one!
Since it is mostly spas that do this procedure, I am leery of it. So I will be looking for, what I consider to be, reliable information and referral before going forward.