Flight or Fight: Colonoscopy

My story…

First they tell you to pick up your prescription 5 days before your appointment, which I could never figure out why, was it going to do something differently, sitting in my bathroom for 5 days, but hey, this is what they want. My first impression, “dang I am suppose to drink all of this?” This bottle was bigger than a 8 gallon milk bottle, I was nervous. Depending on Insurance, you may have a co-pay. The pharmacist came and asked if I needed her to explain how to mix it to me, and I immediately said YES! She then proceeded to tell me she will give me the basics but read the instructions. I was shocked. I was disappointed that she did not want to throughly go through it with me especially since this was my first time, and from what I learned since then, was that if I did it wrong I would have to reschedule and do it all over again. For me that matters, for her, nope.

Her instructions were ok yet confusing, fill to this line and drink to this one. Take these two pill 4 hours before and the other 2, 2 hours before, my head was spinning. However, gave me 8 pills in total and did not tell me what they were for. Listen, I understand that I am getting older so my patience for learning is little, however, it seems like it’s harder to understand things. So needless to say, I simply just ask others and went to my Health Provider's website and got the answer's I needed.

The day before (24 hrs) your procedure they want you to eat only clear Broth or Jello (clear), drink clear liquids such as Gatoraide water. Depending on your scheduled time, hours before you have to start drinking what is simply known as "The Prep". For me, since my appointment was at 11:15 am, Thursday morning, so Wednesday night at 6 pm, I took my first sip.

The instructions say prepare the Prep at 5 by filling the bottle with water up to the broken line. There is a Lemon pack if you want "flavor". My father told me to use clear Gatoraide to make it taste better. So I mixed about 7 or 8 bottles of 8 ounces of clear Gatoraide, and the Lemon pack, shooked the bottle and poured it into a cup with a straw and drank it. I had to drink 8 ounces every 10 mins, what the heck. From all the stories I was told, I thought something was wrong because I promise you, I peed way more than I did poop. I finished drinking the required amount at 8 pm and waited, but nothing changed.

The next morning, I took the 2 pills and more of the drink at 7. The Pills turned out to be some sort of Gas pill. At 8, I took the other two and finshed the required amount of Prep. I worried the entire time, that I would have to do this again, and I was not wrong.

I am at the Dr office for my colonoscopy and now they tell me they need a sample of pee. They could have said that before I peed everything out. I’m in the sitting room with my father and time is just ticking by. I’m sitting in the waiting room with my daddy, and I’m worried I did not get their early night, because I couldn’t remember if they told me to get their 30 mins early. But then, I remembered they told me at reception that I was early; truth be told, they kinda sounded dismissive of it. They call my name and immediately asked me for the sample, I gave them what I could. Just to learn later, it was for a pregnancy test. All they had to do was ask if I was pregnant. No lie, it felt a little sneaky. The young gentleman escorted me to my bed area and explained that I had two procedures scheduled, which shocked me because my Doctor only told me about one. Needless to say, I was pissed at my Dr. I laid in my bed waiting for my turn and played Sudoku and a Cryptograms on my phone. For this being my first colonoscopy, I didn’t feel nervous or anything. The Anesthesiologist came in and explained that I would be under light sedation and may not remember anything.

They wheeled me into the room, everyone introduced themselves and what their job was. They had me swishing this nasty and I mean nasty litocane to numb my mouth. Seems as if my Dr ordered an Endoscopy as well, I just wish she told me. They put this mouth guard in my mouth and the very last thing I remember was the oxygen mask, it was lights out.

I wake up and the first thing I ask the lady was, how did it go? She said, they could not complete the exam because I was moving too much. I asked if I was whaling my arms because i was just in complete shock. She says “you don’t remember?” I said “NO!” And thought "duh", y'all put me to sleep.

I fell almost three times trying to put on my clothes, I think I was bothered because I refused help. I don’t really remember much after putting on my clothes. It’s weird, I have memories but going through the motions. It’s like I dreamt for the next day or so. My procedure was Thursday and I didn’t fully recover until Friday at noon when I woke up. I think the sedation worked, just after I left.

I read the notes from the Doctor and apparently, while doing the exam in my throat, I was grabbing at the probes during both the colonoscopy and Endoscopy. I laughed and was so proud of my conscious for all defending me lol. My conscious knew it was being violated and defended me lol. The report did also mention, I was deemed unsafe and will be put under full sedation for the next procedure. I think that would be best as well. Although, I laughed it did get me thinking about why am I always in flight or fight? I also, have to now do two days of Prep because as I figured, it did not do what it was suppose to do.

From what the doctor did see, so far my results looked good. So it is worth doing this procedure again and actually finishing.

For years, I did not take my health seriously but the older I got my mind started to change and I followed. I started to see life differently and putting my health first. Hopefully, my story can help someone else.

“If you can change your mind, you can change your life.” – William James