Wish me luck please

[pomtzu]

Tomorrow is the day - the dreaded colonoscopy at 8 a.m. sharp. UGH!!! I'm very overdue for it - it's been 10 years since the last one, and even tho colon cancer runs in the family (father and brother), I have been putting it off. Not smart - I know!

So today it's clear liquids and I'm starving already. I had some lime jello for breakfast so I kinda had something to chew, and I'm on my second glass of apple juice. More jello for lunch and dinner, with apple juice or Sierra Mist in between. Then at 6 tonight, it's drink a liter (8oz every 15 minutes), of a very vile tasting liquid (if I can keep it down), and wait for the fun to start. Then I have to repeat that procedure again a 4 a.m. tomorrow morning. I might just start earlier to make sure I get rid of everything before I have to leave the house. :eek:

I'm just hoping I don't have a repeat of what happened with the last one. I passed out cold on the bedroom floor as I was getting ready to leave the house. My electrolytes were really screwed up I guess, as my doc said that is most likely what happened. I told my DIL to listen for a thud in my bedroom in the morning - just in case! :eek:

Gayle - can I be known as QOP for a day??? :p

If you can spare some, please send some good vibes my way. Thanks friends! :love: And think of me while you are eating all those yummy solid foods today...............

[Catty1]

HUGS! and prayers. I am surprised you have to start 'cleaning out' so early! I guess they must have had a lot of patients who didn't start, er, early enough!:eek:

Good luck!

[Medusa]

Oh Ellie, you know that I'm w/you every step of the way. No way will anything bad happen to my "sis". Keep the faythe. :love:

[Karen]

We'll be thinking of you, and sending a prayer for a positive result to the test.

[Queen of Poop]

Tomorrow is the day - the dreaded colonoscopy at 8 a.m. sharp. UGH!!! I'm very overdue for it - it's been 10 years since the last one, and even tho colon cancer runs in the family (father and brother), I have been putting it off. Not smart - I know!

So today it's clear liquids and I'm starving already. I had some lime jello for breakfast so I kinda had something to chew, and I'm on my second glass of apple juice. More jello for lunch and dinner, with apple juice or Sierra Mist in between. Then at 6 tonight, it's drink a liter (8oz every 15 minutes), of a very vile tasting liquid (if I can keep it down), and wait for the fun to start. Then I have to repeat that procedure again a 4 a.m. tomorrow morning. I might just start earlier to make sure I get rid of everything before I have to leave the house. :eek:

I'm just hoping I don't have a repeat of what happened with the last one. I passed out cold on the bedroom floor as I was getting ready to leave the house. My electrolytes were really screwed up I guess, as my doc said that is most likely what happened. I told my DIL to listen for a thud in my bedroom in the morning - just in case! :eek:

Gayle - can I be known as QOP for a day??? :p

If you can spare some, please send some good vibes my way. Thanks friends! :love: And think of me while you are eating all those yummy solid foods today...............


You sure can borrow QOP. Hey, I found alot of solace in having popsicles, just don't have any red or purple ones. I found some that were peach and white tea. I think I went thru the whole box that day, but it helped to have something to "chew".

[Queen of Poop]

If you're going to have this done regularly you should inquire if they have the better meds for it. I had 2 packages of crystals to mix in 1 cup of water, they were lemon/lime flavored and not that hard to take. One dose at 7 am and the second at 2 pm. Then 4 little pills to take at 7 pm. That was it. Much easier than what you're describing. And trust me, it did the job!!

[pomtzu]

If you're going to have this done regularly you should inquire if they have the better meds for it. I had 2 packages of crystals to mix in 1 cup of water, they were lemon/lime flavored and not that hard to take. One dose at 7 am and the second at 2 pm. Then 4 little pills to take at 7 pm. That was it. Much easier than what you're describing. And trust me, it did the job!!

Unfortunately, my doc wouldn't budge on the prep, even tho I protested this method. The old Fleet prep (similar to what you had) that I had done before, has been shown to cause kidney damage, and they don't use it anymore because of that. So unless they come up with something easier by the next time, then I'm stuck with this method. And to add insult to injury, the old Fleet prep was about $5. This one I have to do was $60!!!! Just that alone, was enough to make me sh1t!!! :eek::p sorry!

[3Catcondo]

Sending good thoughts your way, I had one a couple of years ago and the prep solution did not work it's magic, I had bad stomach cramps but could not go to the bathroom. Finally that night at 10pm I called the on call drs and had to do suppositories....I was going for the rest of the night and next day, but it was over quick and was painless. Keep us posted..

P.S. How is Sherbie?

Amy

[Queen of Poop]

Checking in to see how you are doing. How many rolls? I used one and a half.

[phesina]

Wishing you all the best with it, Gayle.

I had one just two or three months ago or so. Wasn't bad at all.. rather a piece of cake (so to speak), after the day of fasting and keeping close to the bathroom!

I hope your electrolytes don't act up again as you're about to leave your house!
At least your daughter in law will be on the alert for any mishaps like that.

God bless!

[Freedom]

Thinking of you, Ellie! It will soon be done and you can move on to other things.

[Pinot's Mom]

Aw, Ellie, I'm just seeing this! Good luck with everything!

[Queen of Poop]

Hoping it all goes well this morning.

[moosmom]

Ellie,

I'll be thinking of you this morning. I had my first one done last year. The worst part is the prep. The rest is a cake walk. I love going under anesthesia. It's like a legal way of getting high, briefly. LOL

My advice once it's done, is to go home and take a nap. A nice LOOOOOONG nap. You'll feel much better.

You'll do fine.

I'll call you tonight.

[pomtzu]

Well.......it was fail/abort! :mad:

By late yesterday afternoon, I was so sick from not eating all day, that I couldn't even keep the jello down any longer. I was light-headed, sick to my stomach, and breaking out in sweats, then dry heaves on top of it all. I gave it a shot - trying to drink the prep solution, but couldn't keep any down. So - needless to say, the procedure couldn't be done. I called in to cancel, but haven't heard back yet from my doc. He's going to have to find another solution, or it just won't get done.

So I put out $60 for the prep, and that was just money down the drain, and now I'll get socked with a $100 cancellation fee from the doc's office. But I feel even worse that my DIL took off work today to be my transport - all for nothing! I'll have to take her out to lunch or something when I'm feeling better.

Now I'm back to square one!

[Queen of Poop]

Yikes, I'm sorry it went so sideways. :love:

[Pawsitive Thinking]

Oh no :( was going to say "what a bummer" but that would have been too tactless right? ;)

[pomtzu]

Oh no :( was going to say "what a bummer" but that would have been too tactless right? ;)

Thanks for the laugh. :D I needed it since I still feel like crap. No pun intended there either......:p

[Medusa]

Oh I'm sorry, El! I was just about to ask how you're doing. That's just a shame in every respect. :(

[Freedom]

Whoa, that doc should NOT be charging you a cancellation fee! You tried! You discussed this prep with him, told him you weren't comfortable with it! Not your fault you couldn't do it! That is just plain MEAN if he tries to charge you that fee!

I sent you a PM. The prep I did was 2 10 ounce bottles of Magnesium Citrate, (and you do NOT take them both together!) and 4 Dulcolax pills (I put 2 pills in the PM but I gave you the link to see the proper set up). You don't drink it all together, and I found it a very easy prep. Of course, I don't have the same issues as you. It is all Over The COunter stuff, not costly at all.

Do you HAVE to use this doc for the procedure? Can you select another doc? Would you want to?

If you don't like the prep in th elink I gave you, browse around, using GOOGLE:
colonoscopy prep
There are quite a few out there. I saw a good discussion on an IBS forum, you may want to read through when you are feeling better.

You may have better success if you ask the doc for x prep, rather than leave him guessing which one is going to work for you.

Hugs to you, hope you are feeling more yourself quickly!

[RICHARD]

Colonoscopies are no joke, but these comments during the exam were quite humorous...... A physician claimed that the following are actual comments made by his patients (predominately male) while he was performing their colonoscopies:


1. 'Take it easy, Doc. You're boldly going where no man has gone before!

2. 'Find Amelia Earhart yet?'


3. 'Can you hear me NOW?'


4. 'Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet?'


5. 'You know, in Arkansas , we're now legally married.'


6. 'Any sign of the trapped miners, Chief?'


7. 'You put your left hand in, you take your left hand out...'


8. 'Hey! Now I know how a Muppet feels!'


9. 'If your hand doesn't fit, you must quit!


10. 'Hey Doc, let me know if you find my dignity.'


11. 'You used to be an executive at Enron, didn't you?'


12. 'God, now I know why I am not gay.'


And the best one of all.


13. 'Could you write a note for my wife saying that my head is not up there?'

[Catherinedana]

I thought you got knocked out when you had a colonoscopy!!! ???

[Asiel]

Wow......sorry Pom, I thought it would be all over byt the time I got back on here. What a bummer. My mom used to have much the same reaction as you so they would hospitalize her for the prep,and she was already there next morning to whisk away and do the test. Wonder why your doctor didn't think of that. I can't believe you're getting charged $100 cancellation fee, kind of sucks . We would never get charged for something like that, probably be getting a sympathy card. The only time we get charged is if we have a doctor's appointment and forget to cancel it, otherwise we call and cancel and no big deal, they always have someone waiting to grab the empty slot. I've forgotten to cancel a few times and was never charged.
And I'm heading out for my doc's appointment after lunch.....oh joy...fun day.

[Pinot's Mom]

They should be able to schedule an in patient procedure to include your prep. I'm so sorry you went through all that!

[pomtzu]

An inpatient prep and procedure will never happen - not with this doc anyway. He is in a practice that owns an outpatient endoscopy center, and the procedures aren't done in the hospital.

But I'm so pi$$ed right now, that I'll be looking for a new GI guy I imagine. First of all, his office never called me today to get the whole story, since I had to leave the cancellation notice with the answering service. But I'm sure I'll see that $100 cancellation bill in the mail within days. :mad:

I've gone to this practice for about 15 years, and the doc I used to see left the practice, so I was assigned a new one. I only saw him once a few years ago, and then again in January. I have my doubts that he even reviewed my chart. To make a long story short, I have other GI issues which make it next to impossible to ingest more than a few ounces at a time, and I asked for a different prep. I even called his office back last week to again try to get it changed, explaining the situation again to his nurse, and all I got from her was a snippy "well just do the best you can"! I probably don't drink a liter of liquids in an entire day, and I'm supposed to get that much down in an hour, and then again in the morning??? Next to impossible, but I had to give it a try. :(

So I guess I'll just talk to my primary care doc next time I go in, and see what he suggests. Can't do much else at this point. :(

[Karen]

Sounds like it is time for a referral to a new doc for your GI issues and the colonoscopy as well.

[Lillycat]

I could never drink the stuff.....i would bring it back up.....I always took the pills and that worked okay for me. Hope you find a good doctor that you like.....rest some for now....