Colonoscopy ?

[BARR1965]

My mom is 76 and she will have her colonoscopy tomorrow. She is drinking whatever her doctor's prescribed and drinking lots of juices (white grape juice and apple juice), eating lots of jellos and chicken and beef broth. Her last colonscopy was more than 10 years ago and lately she has been complaining about her stomach. So her doctor ordered her to get this procedure done. She is not a happy camper today and I know for sure tomorrow she will be the same thing. I am hoping the results will be negative.

[uwsman2]

Had my first colonoscopy a year ago, then age 55. (Recommended to have it done at 50 - I'm a procrastinator.) The only difficult part of the thing is the preparation, and if you've got an experienced specialist doing it, you talk it over with him and get a prescription for the stuff that doesn't taste so bad - it comes in all different flavors. The stuff I had was a fruity flavor and the first few glasses weren't off-putting - but you have to drink so much of it over a rather short period of time that after a while you start to detest it... at any rate, you do have to thoroughly clean your system, otherwise it is hard for the doc to spot some of the polyps they would be looking for.

 

On mine, the doc found and removed three polyps, and told me to come back for a repeat in three years. If they find growths, even though benign, they want to do a follow-up.

 

From my reading, it pays to have a really experienced person who specializes in this kind of thing to do your colonoscopy - the odds of detecting and taking care of problems greatly increases if you have somebody who really knows what they are doing.

 

And I was very satisfied with my doc and anesthesiologist. My general practitioner knows that as a gay man I would prefer to have a gay man explore my innards, so she recommended one of the most experienced gay specialists in NY on this procedure: Dr. Paulo Pacheco. I found him pleasant, informative, thorough. He prefers general anesthesia, so you sleep through the entire procedure and never feel a thing. This was a piece of cake compared to the two prostate biopsies I've endured... but that's another story entirely.

 

By the way, Pacheco is also an authority - author of a respected book -- on how to cope with heartburn, just in case that's your problem.

[Okliehomo]

The procedure is NO big deal, at all. The prep ain't a picnic, but there are worse things than that as well. Like, oh, ...... having cancer.

 

I ignored my symptoms long enough for it to be Stage 3 when they found it in 2006.... pill form chemo and radiation and then a mother fucker of a surgery... after which, I think I almost lost my fucking mind and then real chemo....

 

Today, I am cancer free. No markers were found during the surgery... when the surgeon told my friends and family that my liver was clean, they all laughed at him, "His liver is good???? NO way!!!"... Turns out, he ruptured my spleen during that surgery and I had to back to surgery at 1 am with my blood pressure at about 39 over 48 or something equally awful... so, two major surgeries in 24 hours... Yeah, I was crazy for a while after that.

 

But that was almost 3 years ago now and all my blood tests (that I have every six months.... the next in two weeks) have been good so far. Knock on wood.... Have to have a colonoscopy this Fall as well. And brother, I about run into the room and jump up on that table... because if they catch it early, then you are way ahead of the game.

 

Yeah, 2006 .... good times... I was diagnosed in April (Had seen Draker in March and when I told him that why I quit bottoming was because it really, REALLY hurt and he said, You better see a doctor... so, at his urging, I finally did and just in the nick of time) and then my Mom was diagnosed in May.... with bladder cancer. NO cancer ever in any of our family before. What the fuck?

 

And my 16 year old dog died in June. Super year for me.

 

I did see Marco Feretti one week to the day before I had surgery... just in case it was my last hurrah.

 

It wasn't. Nope, I lived to rim another day.

 

I have seriously thought about writing a book called "All My Problems Are Behind Me"...

 

Good luck to you and to all of you guys out there.... watch your asses.

 

I mean it.

 

Okie

[Guest zipperzone]

>I ignored my symptoms long enough for it to be Stage 3 when

>they found it in 2006....

 

Could you please tell us the symptoms you ignored? It might help others to identify their own disease. Thanks.

[Rick Munroe]

>I was awake for the initial

>portion of the procedure and actually made a joke about it

>which the MD did not appreciate...

 

Don't leave me hanging; what was the joke??

[kjun]

May you (and your ass) live on in better health and happiness!

 

the Cajun

[billhu]

Hi Lucky - you doc is the lucky one! I have them every three or so years. The prep is tough but just uncomfortable and the drink is heavy which makes one bloated but it does the trick (when its over you'll feel great and ready for the other trick:-)). The anesthesia will bring you into a great and blissful state. Like having 10 hands giving you a tantric massage. Noise around you is exagerated but at that point you feel so good you don't give a @#$%. You'll drift away and then find yourself in recovery never knowing what the doc did. Enjoy.

[JT Brooklyn]

Anyone who has seen the Movie "Ghost Town" with Ricky Cervais will definitely laugh at his "Ghost Experiences" after a Colonoscopy! ;-)

[lucky13000]

To all who weighed in with sage advice & anecdotes - I had my procedure resulting in advice for a repeat performance in 10 years or so - clean bill of health....Once the IV medication started flowing, I was out immediately with the next awareness waking in the recovery room....The preparation the day before (mainly drinking the gallon jug of colyte) was by far the worst of it all...Not even the slightest discomfort afterwards of having been deeply probed by some really long flexible tubing w/ camera attached....No bloated feeling afterwards & a normal appetite/digestion on arrival back home....All in all, no big deal with little to no reason for pre-procedure jitters or anxiety.....just my experience.

[luczen]

I will have a virtual coloscopy next week friday.

The preparation is the same as for the normal one

But is done in the radiology department ; it is like taking an Xray;

Of course there is no anaesthesia and if there is something suspect you have to do the regular one after

[Guest zipperzone]

>>I ignored my symptoms long enough for it to be Stage 3

>when

>>they found it in 2006....

>

>Could you please tell us the symptoms you ignored? It might

>help others to identify their own disease. Thanks.

 

BUMP

[Okliehomo]

Zip,

 

As I mentioned, the first symptom that I noticed was that bottoming became unbearably painful... and not just until you got used to it, like before.... no, now, it got more painful the longer he went.. and then, months later, there were noticeable amounts of bright red blood in the toilet. No pain, no discomfort. I pretended for a long time that it was diviticulosis (sp??) because I had known someone that had had that.... but it wasn't. Nope. It was the real deal.

 

I did get my latest blood test back this Wednesday and it's still all good. Big relief.

 

Okie

[Guest zipperzone]

Thanks for the info and congrats on your continuing good news!

[samhexum]

[Guest]

I will have a virtual coloscopy next week friday.

The preparation is the same as for the normal one

But is done in the radiology department ; it is like taking an Xray;

Of course there is no anaesthesia and if there is something suspect you have to do the regular one after

 

I'm not sure I understand the logic of virtual colonoscopy. The prep is the difficult part of the procedure and the prep is the same. And if anything is found (high chance), you will have to go through the same prep again to have a real colonoscopy. As an added bonus, CT scans expose patients to fairly high doses of radiation. On average, each CT scan you get increases your risk of a fatal cancer by 1 in 1000. A chest and abdomen CT increases your risk of getting a fatal cancer by about 1 in 500.

[Rudynate]

When I was in the doctor's office discussing the procedure, he was urging the "gold standard" of prep being a full 3 days beforehand on the clear liquid diet. The instructions which came in the mail a day or 2 later from the hospital endoscopy dept. indicated starting the liquid diet just the day before at breakfast - which if good enough for them will be good enough for me. Drinking the colyte solution & taking the laxative pills are all on the menu. Having a supply of baby wipes for (many) repeated visits to the john seems sensible to reduce irritation. In the what to expect section of the instructions, they don't indicate a full sleeping anesthesia but rather just an IV with pain medication for a dreamy state, likely demerol from what I've heard. I have a designated driver for the ride home. Apart from having the patient show up clean & ready, this seems to be the point they emphasize the most. With an expected clean bill of health afterwards, hopefully this won't have to be repeated again for 10 or 15 years or so.....from what I understand.

Thanks guys for all the input.

 

 

The med(s) used for the sedation vary between practitioners and facilities. At Kaiser, I think they use a combination of versed and fentanyl.

[Rudynate]

I'm not sure I understand the logic of virtual colonoscopy. The prep is the difficult part of the procedure and the prep is the same. And if anything is found (high chance), you will have to go through the same prep again to have a real colonoscopy. As an added bonus, CT scans expose patients to fairly high doses of radiation. On average, each CT scan you get increases your risk of a fatal cancer by 1 in 1000. A chest and abdomen CT increases your risk of getting a fatal cancer by about 1 in 500.

 

 

I had a CT angiogram. I wouldn't do it again. Don't remember how much radiation, but the exposure was enormous.

[+ oldNbusted]

At Kaiser, I think they use a combination of versed and fentanyl.

 

My last screening (not at Kaiser thank goodness) they used propofol instead of versed.

[+ sniper]

Yeah I had propofol. It was the quickest falling asleep and quickest waking up I've ever had. It was a jarring sensation to suddenly be completely alert having been completely out.

[+ MasssageGuy]

Here is a video my Doctor recommended to "Prepare" me...

 

Really Funny!

 

[Rudynate]

My last screening (not at Kaiser thank goodness) they used propofol instead of versed.

 

 

Like it or not, it's the health care delivery model of the future.

[Becket]

Comedian Lewis Black has a great bit on colonoscopy. Worth digging up on Youtube. I always ask to be totally knocked out and then the procedure is a piece of cake. Prep day before is tough, as has been said. I guess it's a fetish, but I've never understood medical procedures being an occasion for sex. Different strokes....

[+ Billsboy4]

I just had a colonoscopy. The worst part for me is the awful tasting stuff you have to drink to clean out. This time I used ClenPiq (you need a prescription for it) and it really wasn't bad. You drink 2 80z liquids, with lots of water or clear liquids. You can do 2 of those drinks the night before (if your appt. is early morning) or one late afternoon and one the next morning (if your appt is later in the day).

[+ Charlie]

I hate all the days of prep beforehand, during which there are restrictions on what you can eat, medications you can take, etc. The operation itself doesn't bother me, since I am completely unconscious. I just had what I hope is my last, since supposedly they don't do routine colonoscopies after one turns 80.

[+ sam.fitzpatrick]

I just received the insurance statements for my procedure a three weeks ago - one for the MD (~$1,000) and one for the hospital (~$5,000.) And I didn't get a discount for waking up in the middle of the procedure.