My Colonoscopy Experience

[smokey]

I had a colonoscopy about 10 days ago and I thought everything went well particularly because I finally convinced my primary care doc to admit me for the prep. First, I ate very small portions, stopped taking in any fiber and ate a low residue diet for about 3 days before the test. I brought a small sheepskin pad that was placed under my butt/hips while laying down in the hospital bed to prevent skin problems. I had them put in a foley catheter. I also told them to turn me every 3 hours. I drank a gallon of "Golytely" for the prep.....you really gotta just slam that stuff down as quick as you can It tastes like melted plastic. I was laying on my side and the shit started it's mudslide in about an hour. They were very quick and cool about coming in and cleaning me up. After about 3 shits, the stool was very loose and they put a "Malencott" tube up my ass and attached it to a bedside bag to drain the liquid shit. That was pretty much it except I only got 1 1/2 hours sleep. The colonoscopy itself was painless and uneventful except the GI doc had some difficulty getting the colonscope past my hepatic flexure due to some looping of my bowels and stomach spasms. I told them to go light on the demerol so I watched the whole thing. But my blood presure went up to 202/101 so they gave me some sedation. The doc then ordered a "virtual colonoscopy" to look at the ascending colon that she could not reach. It is really a CAT scan but they blow air up your ass to expand the colon to better visualize the tissue. It couldn't be done until the next day so they kept me another night. However, they said I could eat dinner and would be NPO at midnight. So I ate a vegetable lasagna, 2 slices of pizza, some custard, french fries and cranberry juice. I had the virtual colonoscopy the next morning and it showed stool in the exact spot where they wanted to see my colon. The virtual colonoscopy detected a 5mm X 4mm suspected polyp at the hepatic flexure though. I got the reports from my "source" in the hospital but haven't heard from the doc yet. My only questions are; Could the food have traveled that far that quickly to be lodged in my cecum (ascending colon)about 16 hours after eating? What do you think regarding the suspected polyp?
Anyway, I encourage all of you to not be fearful of the colonoscopy procedure. I have a family history of colon cancer and I'm 53 so it is important for me to be vigilant against this sinister disease. As a C-7 quad it turned out to be very manageable for me. I didn't shit the day after the colonoscopy but I shit normally 2 days after the test...formed stool.

[NoDecafPlz]

Originally Posted by smokey

I had a colonoscopy about 10 days ago and I thought everything went well particularly because I finally convinced my primary care doc to admit me for the prep. First, I ate very small portions, stopped taking in any fiber and ate a low residue diet for about 3 days before the test. I brought a small sheepskin pad that was placed under my butt/hips while laying down in the hospital bed to prevent skin problems. I had them put in a foley catheter. I also told them to turn me every 3 hours. I drank a gallon of "Golytely" for the prep.....you really gotta just slam that stuff down as quick as you can It tastes like melted plastic. I was laying on my side and the shit started it's mudslide in about an hour. They were very quick and cool about coming in and cleaning me up. After about 3 shits, the stool was very loose and they put a "Malencott" tube up my ass and attached it to a bedside bag to drain the liquid shit. That was pretty much it except I only got 1 1/2 hours sleep. The colonoscopy itself was painless and uneventful except the GI doc had some difficulty getting the colonscope past my hepatic flexure due to some looping of my bowels and stomach spasms. I told them to go light on the demerol so I watched the whole thing. But my blood presure went up to 202/101 so they gave me some sedation. The doc then ordered a "virtual colonoscopy" to look at the ascending colon that she could not reach. It is really a CAT scan but they blow air up your ass to expand the colon to better visualize the tissue. It couldn't be done until the next day so they kept me another night. However, they said I could eat dinner and would be NPO at midnight. So I ate a vegetable lasagna, 2 slices of pizza, some custard, french fries and cranberry juice. I had the virtual colonoscopy the next morning and it showed stool in the exact spot where they wanted to see my colon. The virtual colonoscopy detected a 5mm X 4mm suspected polyp at the hepatic flexure though. I got the reports from my "source" in the hospital but haven't heard from the doc yet. My only questions are; Could the food have traveled that far that quickly to be lodged in my cecum (ascending colon)about 16 hours after eating? What do you think regarding the suspected polyp?
Anyway, I encourage all of you to not be fearful of the colonoscopy procedure. I have a family history of colon cancer and I'm 53 so it is important for me to be vigilant against this sinister disease. As a C-7 quad it turned out to be very manageable for me. I didn't shit the day after the colonoscopy but I shit normally 2 days after the test...formed stool.

Dude, mine was on the 15th.

Maybe we can start our own club. The colon club?

Any way, what they thought was C diff might just be a food alergy.

J.

[SCI-Nurse]

We routinely admit SCI types for bowel prep. The only differences between our approach and yours are 1) we use a clear liquid diet rather than small portions for three days. and 2) we don't use malenkot tubes because we consider them dangerous for skin. Without the clear liquid diet, small portions or not you had stool in your small intestine that worked it's way down by the following day. They need to make a plan for removing the polyp and depending on the microsocpic analysis, you will know hen your next redo will be happening: 5 or 10 years.

RAB

[Mike C]

Any idea how much a colonoscopy costs if you have to pay it out of pocket? I sort of doubt class A Medicare would cover it.

[ChipD]

Originally Posted by SCI-Nurse

We routinely admit SCI types for bowel prep. The only differences between our approach and yours are 1) we use a clear liquid diet rather than small portions for three days. and 2) we don't use malenkot tubes because we consider them dangerous for skin. Without the clear liquid diet, small portions or not you had stool in your small intestine that worked it's way down by the following day. They need to make a plan for removing the polyp and depending on the microsocpic analysis, you will know hen your next redo will be happening: 5 or 10 years.

RAB

I'm sure there are a number of factors regarding polyp removal, size, age, etc... I have heard of polyps that required no surgery because it was less invasive than removing it, but follow up attention to the affected area should be done to be sure of no change?

[smokey]

Decaf, how did you find the whole colonoscopy experience....did it go ok?
RAB, Does a polyp typically HAVE to be removed and how can they remove the polyp when they can't seem to get the scope to advance to that area?
MikeC. I have Medicare and they will cover it.

[NoDecafPlz]

No fuss, no muss.

I had the runs for two days so nothing left in system.

I only had to drink one liter of the Go-Lightly.

Tastes like salt water. A whole gallon? Unthinkable.

J.

[wheelchairman36]

I don't even wanna think about this when comes time for colostomy if done, maybe I can get licky and they will do both at same time

[jessie.gray]

I've never had a colonoscopy, but I agree with you on the taste of that GoLightly stuff. To me, it tasted like nasty salt water, and tasted worse as it warms to room temp. We kept the containers in our Coleman cooler filled with ice to keep it cold, but it still made the stuff taste nasty.
I had to drink 2 gallons of that the night before my mitrofanoff surgery. All I know is that you should never go camping when you have to drink that stuff. I was camping with my grandparents, and they had to have the Honey Wagon come by to the trailer at least once to drain the holding tank. Also, drinking that stuff, then crapping constantly for 5 hours caused really bad hemerrhoids and a raw skin rash to develop, which made sitting in my wheelchair very painful.

Jessie

[stephen212]

I had a colonoscopy 3 years ago. My prep consisted of being on a clear liquid diet beginning the aftenoon before and using the (sometimes) infamous PIE* machine that the colorectal practice had recently purchased to clean me out from stem to stern just prior to the procedure. No need for Golytely or any other Draino product. No shit "mudslides" as Smokester so eloquently put it (you always make me laugh).

Obviously most practices don't have a PIE* machine, but if you can travel to NYC you might consider this as a no-pain option.