Hi! I'm brand new to this board, but would like to encourage others here as I have been encouraged by this message board. I have bolded the best tips from my experience and some found on this message board.My Experience: I fearfully make my initial appointment with the g.i. doc (2 month wait) and after the visit he schedules the colonoscopy date (3 month wait), letting me know he will be using a great drug on me for the procedure â€" a general anesthesia, which I understand will be propofol. In fact, it is so great that he will be using it on himself for his own procedure next year (it’s fun to remember that the docs get this procedure done on themselves by their colleagues and friends!)
General anesthesia!! What’s up with that?! I am not so worried about waking up during the procedure as others have feared; I am worried about not waking up at all!! While waiting another 3 months, and full of fear and anxiety about the actual procedure and the anesthesia, I spend a lot of time talking with people who have had a colonoscopy and also surfing the internet for info. In the process, I stumble across this support group, which I believe is a Godsend. I read for hours about other’s experiences, both good and bad, and I laugh and cry with you, and somewhere in this process I am encouraged and strengthened, my fear is greatly diminished, and a sense of peace begins to settle in. I am not alone in this. I decide a good attitude and a sense of humor is key, and I attempt to make this an adventure rather than an ordeal. Informed by tips on this board, before prep day â€" which I will appropriately call D-Day -- I gather up enough library books and magazines for a week on the commode, including one on climbing Mt. Everest (this should be easy in comparison!!), enough bottles of assorted clear flavored drinks for a large party, jar of vaseline and enough soft toddler wipes for 10 preps, I Love Lucy DVD’s, (anyone remember the “Vitameatavegamin girlâ€? I will be watching this as I attempt to down my 2L of half-lytely, lemon lime flavored, which my doc believes is the easiest prep). I have enough stuff now to camp out by the bathroom for a week. Thanks to message board tips, I make sure I am well hydrated several days before D-Day, and eat very lightly for a couple of days before the big event (“Eat lightly†should be double bolded!) This involves toughing it out through a going away party, a special business lunch, a graduation party, a barbecue, and another going away party on the actual prep day. By this time I have collected quite a stash of desserts for later. 4:00 D-Day arrives. I down the 4 dulcolax with water and settle in near the bathroom and wait for the 7:00 nasty drink. And wait. And wait. I want to get this over with. 2 ½ hours later I’m thinking something is not working, when I start to feel queasy and make my first trip to the bathroom. I am now really worried how I will drink the nasty drink (in only a half hour!!) when I am already nauseated. But this feeling passes quickly and I am good to go (ha ha) at 7. I have mixed my half-lytely with cold water. I remind myself that people have swallowed much worse on Fear Factor.
Although I also have straws ready if necessary, I decide to quickly chug down the first glass without pause while concentrating on my funny DVDs. This seems to work well as I don’t really taste the solution (too much) until done. Definitely has a very odd salty taste. It’s really not that awful, but I won’t be offering it to my dinner guests. Thanks to a GREAT tip here, I rinse my mouth out with sprite, and it totally takes the strange flavor away. I do this another 7 times, one 8 oz. glass every 10 minutes and I am done. Only about 80 total seconds of tasting the stuff over the entire prep. Then, after spending a grand total of only about 15 minutes on the commode over 3 or 4 very short trips, I am basically running clear yellow by 10 p.m. (as someone said, peeing out the butt is a good description), and nothing else happening, I finally decide to go to bed at midnight. I realize I didn’t get to read very much of my mountain climbing book. Nor did I really need the Vaseline or toddler wipes. Nor did I drink my huge cache of drinks. Well, I was a little liquid weary at that point. I’m strangely almost a little disappointed, but also relieved at the same time, that the prep was such a non-event. C-Day: One quick trip to the bathroom and I head out for a 35 minute drive to meet my best friend/sister-in-law/humorous companion/ride home (all the same person). Thirty minutes later we arrive at the hospital and spend another 15 minutes looking for parking in the “bowels†of the earth â€" 3 levels underground. We then realize that neither of us has brought parking money. Oh well â€" maybe they’ll let me work in the cafeteria. Check-in: I ask for a designer colored hospital wristband, but they are not fashion conscious here. Ah, star treatment! My friend accompanies me to my very own private dressing room where I am given a very immodest
, unfashionable gown, but I also have a robe and a warm heated blanket. Nurses in and out with questions. I chat and joke with everyone.
Strangely enough, I am not very hungry or thirsty. Nor have I been throughout. The t.v. is tuned in to a Spanish station, so I channel surf and you’ll never guess what’s on! Fear Factor! I have to laugh when the nurse arrives for my EKG and I let her know that my heart is now probably racing due to watching Fear Factor, and she jokes that maybe we should cancel the procedure. Ha ha. A short time later I am escorted to the procedure room, (I remind my friend to pray as she goes off for food, the rat!) climb on the bed, and ask some questions of the anesthesiologist. She says my veins have all run away, and takes 10 minutes trying to find one, and wonders which arm other docs have used. I say they try one, then the other, then back to the first one again, but joke that “if you’re really good, you’ll get it in the first arm.†She says “no pressure there.†(BTW, you are not intubated for this procedure with Propofol anesthesia, but they do constantly monitor heart, blood pressure and oxygen level, and also give you a little oxygen.) My doc and several other men/women in white arrive. I notice the screen and ask them if anyone brought the popcorn for the movie. I tell them I’d rather be at the beach and they say they’ll take me there. I’m looking at the R.N. and the thought crosses my mind â€" wonder if I can manage to stay awake. She is smiling and waves goodbye.
In the next second they are preparing to take me to another room. All done. A small polyp was removed. The actual scope took no more than 10 minutes. I feel great â€" awake, alert, chatty, happy to be alive, and ready to be done with this adventure. I ask them if I said anything while under, and they mention the popcorn, but I remind them that I was still awake at that time. I happily wave at a guy in an exam room as I am wheeled by. I want to get dressed, out of here, and on with my life, but they say I have to wait 30 minutes. My friend arrives in a panic â€" “my beeper went off â€" I thought something had happened â€" I can’t believe you’re done already!†Nurse reviews the follow-up info with me and says doctor recommends to come back in 3 days (ha ha) â€" uh, 3 years, for the next colonoscopy. Results available in 7 â€" 14 days. Try to place an order, but am only given juice and crackers. Very little gas. Propofol = no after effects: no pain, no sickness, no memory loss, no grogginess, no loss of the day following the procedure. Feel very chatty and refreshed as if waking up after taking a pleasant nap.
Walk out, go with friend to her company picnic, daughter’s softball playoff game, other daughter’s sports banquet, and mother’s house to pickup son that evening. There is food everywhere! My theme song for the day is “Food, glorious food!†from Ice Age: The Meltdown. Although I am somewhat restrained, I probably eat more than I should, and discover that there is actually some prep left in my system. Eat lightly after the procedure
Fortunately, bathrooms are scoped out ahead of time, so no big deal. I manage to forego the cabbage and potatoes my friend’s mom has made but add that to my stash. Although I feel great and alert, I will be a good girl and obey the emphatic orders not to drive that day
, and stay overnight at my friend’s house. Intestines feel a little sore the following day, so I eat lightly. Today is the 2nd day after, and the plumbing is working properly again. For me, the worst part of the whole thing was not the procedure, nor the prep, but was my unfounded fears and anticipation of the ordeal â€" mostly of the unknown â€" (and the intrusion into my daily life schedule). This board helped to alleviate many of my fears. Thank you, thank you, thank you, everyone. Special note to ladies: This procedure is less painful than a mammogram, (really, no pain with propofol) and less embarrassing than a pap test. I have two friends who have said they are never having this procedure done, but my C-Day friend is finally calling to set an appointment up â€" with my doc. And I will be with her for her adventure! I will begin working on my friend’s brother, my brother, and my husband to get theirs. Please don’t let fear or embarrassment keep you from taking proper care of your health. Could I do it again in the nurse’s “slip-of-the-tongue†3 days? I’d rather be at the beach, but I could do it, including the prep. (I read that Miralax is a good prep, but that wasn’t an option for me). This procedure is so Not a Big Deal. I wasted too much of my life worrying about it. My mother’s friend died of colon cancer in her 40’s. THIS PROCEDURE COULD SAVE YOUR LIFE. Sorry this was so long, but I pray that something I have said here is as helpful to someone else who is fearful and either considering or in the process of having this procedure done, as you all have been to me.Blessings, Dixie Girl