Colonscopy-The Hard Part

Everywhere I look, there are ads about getting screened for colonoscopy, jokes about it, or some comments about Harry Smith's colonoscopy on tv last week. I thought that I would add my experience, that I kept in my sketchbook. Scott & White Clinic, St. Joseph's Hospital in Bryan, Texas, and Mayo Clinic, and CBS and KBTX tv websites, all have links to information. And, online, you will find everything from pictures to forums on colon health.

Because of the way these things appear on Blogger, I started with the last, first, and now I'm putting the first part of my experience. That way, when someone looks at it, they will, hopefully, be able to read it in the correct order-first to last.

Maybe someone will be able to identify with my experience, or feel a little better about having the procedure, if they are reluctant. I think that sometimes, from what I've read, it can be a lot worse than it was for me. But, maybe if you know that you can ask your doctor for something that is not as bad to drink, for example, that will help.

Of course, there is the issue of the cost, if you don't have good insurance, etc. I always think of that when I see the ads encouraging people to have tests that insurance may or may not pay for. That's a whole different issue! You may need it, and be willing, but can you get it?

I've already talked a bit about my stomach problems that have plagued me over the years. My doctors thought I should have a colonoscopy and encouraged that for years. I knew that I couldn't drink a big jug of nasty tasting stuff. It takes me all day to drink a can of Sprite! I've had swallowing problems, too, that required stretching of my esophogas-similar to the colonoscopy, only the other end and I didn't have to drink anything. Just had to not eat or drink anything after midnight, which seems to be standard operating procedure for so many things.

But, with all the other things that have gone on, I knew that I needed to try to find out what was going on and try to resolve my stomach problems. I decided that it must be Social Anxiety, but there could be something else that we couldn't see. So, I had them schedule the appointment after a conference with the gastrointologist. (I probably spelled that wrong. That's a real tongue twister!)

The above are some pages from the new sketchbook I started January 1. While I'm sitting, I record my memories and thoughts, and, my experiences.

This starts with the dread of the year to come, starting with the thought of the colonoscopy, that loomed over me.

I continued to show pictures and experiences about the colonoscopy in the previous posts. You can scroll down and read more about it.

The preparation part is the hardest part. For some people, it seems to be worse than for others. The main complaint is having to drink a lot of unpleasant liquid, then having to spend a lot of time in the bathroom. And there is the dread of the test itself. The worst part of that, for me,was trying to get an IV in, which happens a lot of the time, in my case. Once you get the "sleepy stuff", you just nap away and don't know a thing.

I went home and had a nice nap with my cat for the rest of the day!

This test, like everything else, came back okay. I sort of wished they had found some reason for my tummy upsets, but I know that it was good that it was clear.

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Started reading "I Hate Red, You're Fired!" by William Stubbs. You can see his tv program, "Moment of Luxury" on Houston PBS and other stations. I really enjoy seeing what he has created.

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The Colonoscopy

Top Photo-My face turned red and puffed up after the prep for my colonoscopy. They didn't seem concerned. It was sort of like the time I got a large vitamin hung in my throat and broke the capillaries in my face trying to cough it up. I looked like I had a sunburn! Maybe it was a reaction to something or maybe from straining. I asked, but they didn't know.

The day of the procedure, my daughter and oldest grandson drove me to the clinic. They waited in the exam room while I changed clothes in the bathroom, then sat on the guerney, waiting for the nurse. Those IV bags always look so ominous. And I felt silly, sitting there with a hospital gown over my blouse! And I thought that my new haircut looked like someone put a bowl on my head and cut my hair like in the Depression times!

I asked the nurse to not probe for a vein and told her some possibilities. My veins do not want to be poked and do not cooperate! She probed anyway and I thought I was going to faint or cry. I just covered my eyes and hoped she would get it soon. She finally got it in and I was afraid to move, fearing that the needle would come out.

She rolled me to the surgical area, with its monitors and machines. They rolled me in backwards from the way I had been for the endoscopic procedures.

Drawing 2- The nurse busied herself behind my head, and I could see the various monitors and machines. I hoped I would be asleep quickly. I sort of wanted to see, but thought it wold be best to sleep through it all.

Dr. D. came in, listened to my heart, said "Hello", and busied himself behind me. With the last endoscopic exam, I didn't go to sleep right away. They put the "muzzle" on my mouth and the dr. came toward me with the wand. I tried my best to tell them that I was still awake, but that was hard with a "muzzle" on my mouth. The dr. and nurse pushed on the needle in my hand until I finally went to sleep. I didn't want this to start while I was still awake! I panicked before.

The nurse told me to turn over and face her. I wondered if I could do that with my knee still sore from the knee replacement surgery. I did and held onto the rail.

Picture 3-The nurse balanced 3 huge needles in her hand. I hoped that those were not going in me, but in the IV. She asked, "Three?" And she shot them into the IV. She told me that I would be going to sleep soon, and she turned back to the counter.

I waited. Seemed like I was wide awake, despite having little sleep the night before.

When am I going to get sleepy!

Picture 4- I watched the clock on the wall and waited, with the nurse and dr. still busy at their places where I couldn't see them very well. The room was bright, the clock was very white. Time didn't really seem to change much. This was taking so long, I wished I had my sketchbook, or my camera.

The numbers on the clock seemed funny. Why was there the numbers 10, 11, and 12 on the side where 1, 2, and 3 were? I guess that was the way they kept time there in this room. Different from normal clocks.

Bottom Picture-Suddenly, I was telling some kind of a story, probably about Calvert or ancestors, and being rolled into a cubicle that had curtains that looked like quilt blocks. Squares of fabric in blue, soft pink and purple. There was a chair in the corner by the curtain. The IV was gone and I sat up on the bed.

My daughter and grandson came in to sit down for a short while before I was sent home with instructions.

Dr. D. came in and and stood by the bed. He said that all went well and everything looked good. All he found were some internal hemorroids and I would get a report within a week.

I don't remember putting on my shoes. Maybe I left them on. I don't remember leaving the building. I remember riding in the car. I had to put on my sunglasses.

At home, I got on my bed and curled up with the cat. We had a good nap..... All afternoon!

I didn't hurt, didn't have the gas problem that some people talk of having, and wasn't particularly hungry afterward.

It wasn't all that bad. The puffiness and redness in my face went away after a few days. It happened again a couple of weeks later, so I'm not sure what is going on with that. I asked the dermatologist about it and he just advised using glycerine soap and moisturize twice a day. That doesn't work for wrinkles!

Anyway, I survived the test and had a good report. Maybe I won't have to do that again.

I still don't know what causes my stomach problems. The dr. advised using Lomotil every 6 hours, or take 2 in the morning, another at lunch time. Sometimes that helps, sometimes, it doesn't.

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They're still talking about Harry Smith's Colonoscopy-live on tv. On their own program, Harry Smith was teased about the pictures. They laughed about using those on his Christmas cards.

An actress made a joke about it, but she used some word that had to be bleeped. I couldn't understand what she said. And, of course, David Letterman was talking about it.

I guess it is good if it gets the message across to those who might be reluctant.

One thing that might help would be to develop a prep procedure that wouldn't involve drinking nasty stuff, or spending uncomfortable hours in the bathroom. And, to let people realize that the test itself is not that bad.

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I put a box at the top of my blog, saying Contact Congress. I hope that D.C. gets the message that this Health Care bill is wrong. We need reform, not takeover and what is being proposed.

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After the Colonoscopy

Harry Smith was all over the news and internet last week, with his colonoscopy, broadcast live and in color, on morning tv. Jimmy Kimmel and others made jokes about it, which you can see on You Tube and other places. The colonoscopy can also be seen as a repeat on various websites from KBTX to CBS. Live-Harry's Colonoscopy. On You Tube, you can also see an informative Lower GI Colonoscopy and Colon Hydro Therapy. There is even a listing for Colonoscopy Karaoke, which is supposed to have someone singing during the procedure. I only found a picture, but wonder what it actually is. I imagnine someone kind of out of it from anesthesia, singing away, during a colonoscopy, but I don't really know. I wonder what people do. I thought they slept, but maybe they talk-and sing! Could be embarrassing!

Katie Couric, who had a colonoscopy on tv about 10 years ago, stood by Harry's side during the event last week, and joked, as well as tried to inform viewers about a very serious health issue.

Of course, they didn't show the really difficult part, which is the preparation day-the day before. They just said that it was hard, and involved going to the bathroom a lot, and drinking a lot of required fluid.

Well, I thought, "How timely!" They should have showed it last December!"

For probably 20 years or more, my dr. told me that I should have a colonoscopy, especially considering all the stomach trouble I've had. I knew that I couldn't drink all that bad tasting stuff, and I was really scared to go through what I had heard about and imagined. I thought about it for years. I decided that I had social anxiety from things I had seen on tv, and nothing really wrong, physically.

The last straw, though, came when I had my knee replacement. All went okay, except for pain, until they gave everyone in the "class" a stool softener, the day we "graduated" and could go home. I was planning to stay an extra day, anyway, while they tried to get me in a rehab facility. (I didn't qualify.) Their reasoning was that almost everyone gets constipated after surgery, so everyone got a stool softener.

At the graduation ceremony, I felt a little gassy, which I was told was normal after surgery. However, when I had to stand up and walk to get my diploma, there was a little puddle of brown stuff in my chair. I was soooo embarrassed! But no one could see anything on my dark clothes and it was on all the padding they had on the reclining chair.

When I got back to my room, I told the nurse and she said that was normal. But, all the rest of the day, it got worse.

I couldn't get to the bathroom or a potty chair fast due to my knee. So, they finally put me in a hospital gown and a diaper. I just kept going and going and had to have the nurses change me.

They gave me lots of Immodium and it didn't work. They finally switched me to Lomotil and that didn't seem to work either. They took stool samples, which came back negative. Nothing seemed to work, and they didn't seem too concerned about it. I quit eating, just taking my meds and sipping Sprite or 7 Up and nibbling on crackers.

When my fever was clear and they couldn't find a reason for the diarrhea, they sent me home. I had bad diarrhea for a solid week after taking that stool softener. I thought that the hospital should have kept me and tried to find out the problem. But, no. They sent me home.

I still wasn't able to make it to the bathroom fast, so we put a potty chair by my bed, which my family didn't like. They refused to help me, so, eventually, I drug myself to the bathroom to clean everything up myself. Home Healthcare came to the house, and they wouldn't do that either, and got mad because my family wouldn't help. They weren't around very long.

Eventually, I was able to get to the point where I could get to the bathroom on my own, and take care of myself. But it was a miserable time!

When I went back to my doctor, she was horrified that I had never had a colonoscopy, at my age. These are supposed to start at about age 50.

I decided that I just had to do something about the stomach problems, so I agreed to schedule a colonoscopy again.

Dr. D. wanted to have a consultation with me before hand, and said he wanted to wait so many weeks after I had had anesthesia, so he scheduled me for January 4. A terrible way to start the new year, I felt. He had done two endoscopic procedures to check my stomach and stretch my esophogas, already. I think he joked about now checking me from one end to the other. It's hard to tell about him, in my observation. Maybe I was just scared.

The nurse gave me a little brown paper sack with instructions and two small bottles, like the old milk bottles, of a fizzy liquid, and 2 small brown pills. I put it in the cabinet in the bathroom and thought that I would probably back out and never use those things.
I worried all during the Christmas holidays and heard others talk about how bad it was to drink all that big container of nasty liquid. I looked for information online and thought, "I can't do this. I'll probably cancel."

But, with each thing that I had to avoid doing because I got sick at my stomach, I thought, "I had better see what the problem is and get it fixed."

"You're not going," my daughter told me. She said she had one, but I don't remember it. She said she drank a big jug of stuff, and others said that too. I wondered why I had only a couple of small bottles. I read the labels and it said that it was the same size as a Sprite. If it isn't so nasty, I can probably do that, I thought. The directions said that you only had to drink one at 5 p.m. and another one at 8 p.m., and the two little pills at 10 p.m. That shouldn't be so bad.

I worreid about this all through Christmas and decided that I should record it in my sketchbook.

My daughter told the dr. she wanted pictures, but the nurse said that he doesn't do that. I thought that he is behind the times, or, maybe he is really ahead of things, by not offering a big jug of nasty liquid to drink. I guess the little bottles are probably new, and improved, from everything I have heard and read.

I can't swallow big pills and have to crush them in ice cream, so the small pills were a plus, too.

I still told myself that I would cancel, so not to worry about it. But I did, anyway. One worry was what would happen if I took a strong laxative, considering how just a mild stool softener had affected me. I could imagine really terrible diarrhea, for a long time, that nothing would stop!

I was assured that, once everything was out, it would stop. I didn't believe that after having bad diarrhea for a week!

For years, my stomach would hurt when I had to go somewhere, even a place I looked forward to going. I couldn't go to the grocery store, shopping, to work, on a trip, without taking Immodium first. Otherwise, I was sure to get there and be miserable with a stomach ache, or just had to leave when my stomach started hurting. I decided that it was social anxiety, or something. I would be fine when I left home, looking forward to whatever I was going to do, and, when I got there, or got close, here came the stomach ache.

I told Dr. D. this during the consultation. He just listened, then said that it was good that I understood this. He said that some people can't go anywhere without taking something first, or they just quit leaving home. That's not an option, I thought. Surely there is some kind of medicine that works, if that is the problem.

Instead, he just scheduled the colonoscopy.

The New Year arrived and I started a new sketchbook. Of course, the first thing to document was the dreaded colonoscopy.

"You're not going, are you?" I knew mydaughter didn't want to take me anywhere, but she has always wanted people to go have surgery, etc. She should have worked hard at school and become a dr. or researcher, I thought. But, no, she just enjoyed it, like ghost hunting. Now, though, when I needed some support, she became squeamish and also didn't want to be bothered taking me places.

"I have to try. I've got to get over this problem." I said.

I took out the instructions and read them a few times.

My birthday came and I thought I should enjoy it, while I could. Who could tell what might happen if I had that test. I dressed up and even treated myself to a new camera and a haircut for myself and my grandson. I thought we would go out and eat and have someone sing to me. But, my daughter brought me home, then went to Rudy's and brought back some barbeque. I could have stayed in my houseclothes!

The next day was Preparation Day. The day that was supposed to be the worst of the procedure.

I slept late, then spent the afternoon in the stores, trying to figure out what I could eat. The instructions said,

Liquid Only

Nothing with fat, milk, or cream

Nothing with red or purple

You could have clear broth, but doesn't that have fat, and also salt which is not on my other diet

And that canned broth is really nasty by itself, and so are those cubes.

I wondered what ever happened to lime and lemon Jello! The shelves were full of orange and red Jello, and only one package of diet lime Jello. I bought the one little package, made it up, but couldn't eat it, it was so nasty. Threw that away and found an old package of lime Jello and made that. I ended up eating only Sprite, all day.

I had chilled the bottles of laxative, as directed, and started sipping that at 5. Not too bad, if you like sour things. Very strong lemon flavor, that fizzed, like champagne, I told myself. After a few sips, though, it was too sour, so I would drink a sip, eat some lime Jello, and wash it all down with Sprite. That worked okay, but the second bottle was harder. I got it down, though.

I had put new carpet in my bedroom, so everything was in the living room. I decided that I needed to be close to the bathroom, according to what others had said. I moved the trundle bed near my bathroom, temporarily. Put the potty chair beside it, in case! My grandson's tv was small, so I put it in the bedroom, temporarily. I put some plastic drop cloths in the bathroom, also in case... I put extra toilet paper, wipes, magazines, and adult diapers in the bathroom. Then the top light burned out in the bathroom. I couldn't climb the ladder to change it, due to my knee. I asked the tall people in the house to change it, and they all said, "Later." Weeks later, the youngest changed it for me! So, I couldn't read, but I had lights from the next room, so it was okay.

"Haven't you gone yet?" My daughter asked.

10 p.m. and it was time to take the pills and I still hadn't started going. I decided that I hadn't eaten much in a few days, so there wasn't a lot to get rid of.

I thought that I might vomit if I had to drink anymore of that sour stuff by the time I finished the second bottle.

I thought about when my grandmother, great aunts, and aunt used to go to Marlin and had those high colonics, and thought it was wonderful! I thought they must be a bit sadistic, to think that was something to do willingly!

And I thought of Katie Couric, doing this on tv. I sort of would like to watch, too, but I think I am too cowardly.

By 5:30 a.m., I was getting sore from going so much, but a warm, wet cloth helped, more than the wipes. Couldn't make it through the 2 rooms to the bathroom, so I used the diapers and was glad I had them from the hospital. I was getting too miserable to read the magazines, if I could have seen them in the dark. I wanted to sleep, but couldn't stay in the bed long enough. Finally dozed off for 30 minutes about 6 a.m. By then it was time to get up and get dressed to go to the clinic.

I worried that I might have to go and couldn't wait.

My daughter and oldest grandson drove me to the appointment. The nurse took us all into the exam room. They sat in the chairs and I looked, nervously, at the guerney with the IV, waiting. The nurse told me to go into the bathroom and take off my lower clothes, put on the hospital gown. I asked about leaving the diaper on, for now, in case....

She said they could work around it! It was okay.

In the above drawings, are some of the things after the colonoscopy. More in my next post about the actual colonosocopy.

You can read about someone else's experience at http://blogs.villagevoice.com/dailymusto/archives/2010/01/i_finally_had_a.php

"I Finally Had A Colonoscopy". This was in the New York News.

The top drawing was started in the waiting room of my doctor's office.

Second and third drawings were a few days when I was sick at my stomach at home, after the colonoscopy. Maybe it was something going around, or maybe it was my usual self!

Fourth drawing was on Daddy's birthday, when I got my results. My daughter spent the day sleeping, as usual, and I was in the bathroom, fixing my hair, when the nurse called with my results from the colonoscopy. Everything was okay. Just keep taking my meds, I was told.

I felt like I had been shuffled through the door and didn't learn a thing or resolve the problem.

I guess it was good that I finally went through with it, after backing out for years.

In the last drawing, I was standing in line at the clinic, waiting to see the dermotologist, when the old stomach pains hit, and I really couldn't wait for my turn at the window. I wanted to run around to see the other doctor for Help! I managed to check in, then run to the bathroom. I could hardly focus on my dermatology appointment.

If you need to have a colonoscopy, maybe the experiences of others will help you get through it. Or maybe you can identify with these experiences. Or maybe I'm "in style" with Harry Smith on tv. I didn't have a camera crew and news anchor to go along with me. I was sure wishing that I had someone to help me through it! But I survived, with a good report, and another "adventure".

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