Another Rite of Passage

I had another "rite of passage" on Friday. While I have had the various checks in the nether regions before, I had never had a full colonoscopy performed. As I said, I had one done on Friday and the preparation process is much worse than the procedure itself.

The cleansing process is just that, very cleansing from top to bottom so you can get the drift from that description. Probably the hardest part is the clear liquid diet from midnight on Wednesday until after the procedure. While I didn't get hungry, as such, just knowing that I couldn't eat anything made it difficult. I could have jello but not the red kind and I hate citrus flavored jello so bullion was the mainstay of my day when I wanted something with flavor.

I was lucky in that my doctor was someone I was acquainted with for Bible Study Fellowship a long time ago and not just another pretty face. The only painful part of the process was starting the IV and the nurse was very good at that. They gave me a "little" painkiller and a "little don't care" drug and I just laid there and watched the screen along with the provider. I can honestly say that it was a nonevent and really interesting to watch. There were two very small polyps that he retrieved but he said that they appeared to be nothing out of the ordinary but I'll still wait for the pathology report.

They wheeled me the to recovery room and took my blood pressure, gave me some apple juice and I got dressed and went home. I really didn't feel out of sorts or even affected by the "don't care" drug.

Why am I telling you this? I just want you to know that while the thought of that particular procedure is not very pleasant, it isn't something to be apprehensive about. If you are putting off having a colonoscopy because you want to avoid it, I would remind you that finding a problem, such as cancer, early is much easier to treat that finding it in it's later stages when they can't treat it at all. There is really nothing to fear from the procedure itself.