I’ve been stalling writing this post, mostly because I’m pretty nervous. I mentioned before that I finally got an appointment with a GI doctor (thanks for the recommendations, I ended up choosing one you guys suggested to me that was within my insurance network!) and had my appointment a few weeks ago, just after getting back from Scotland.
The appointment was pretty straight forward. The doctor asked me what symptoms I experience regularly – and if you can think of it, I named it. Also at that point in time, I hadn’t had a significant bowel movement in over 2 weeks. She asked me how long I’ve been dealing with these issues, and I said that it’s been about two, I think maybe two and a half years at this point, but it’s been at its worst in the past 6 months or so.
She then explained what we can do. She explained that we can do blood tests, which could come back with some answers, or even possibly some false positives. We can do elimination diets and reintroduce commonly problematic foods to see if I have trouble with certain ones, but I’ve done that / have been trying to eliminate other foods, and haven’t really seen any new results. We can go through all these steps, only to end up needing to do a colonoscopy. So she cut right to it and said, “my recommendation is we skip all these other steps and just go straight for the colonoscopy and upper endoscopy.” She explained that this way, not only can she take biopsies, and within 2-3 days have results, but also she will have actually seen the inside of my colon and could make a preliminary diagnosis.
Color me shocked. This is the first time I’ve had a doctor actually straight up go for the big guns. And while I appreciate it, I’m also super nervous.
So here we are. I’m less than a week away from the procedure. I’m going to be honest, while the drinks (and bathroom trips) I’ve been told by many are very unpleasant, I am truly looking forward to being completely emptied out!! Sounds gross, sure, but I have a feeling I’m going to feel pretty darn good to be rid of the bloating and pressure and all the accompanying uncomfortable feelings. Oh, also, friends, I would recommend staying far away from me on this coming Sunday, as hanger is inevitable and not pretty.
I’ve found that plenty of my friends have had this procedure, and have gotten loads of advice on how to make it easier. So my question is this – how should I pamper myself when it’s all done?
journeytoloving.me 
the procedure is a piece of cake! (hee). I’ve done this a couple of times. The prep was hard for me because I have low blood sugar – therefore I NEED to eat throughout the day so the hardest part for me was just liquids for 24 hrs. The stuff you have to drink and then the pooping? – meh. Over rated. NBD. really. K, this will be no problem for you. trust me. I ‘celebrated’ with a powerhouse sandwich from David’s natural market – complete with potato chips! I made Marty go get it while I was ‘waking’ up. I practically ate it in the car!! AND the best part? the drug they use is what Michael Jackson was addicted to – and now I KNOW why he was addicted! OMG – I felt FANTASTIC. I could have gone out and ran a marathon but of course, you have to take it easy. Anyway, I don’t sleep well at night. I was out for maybe 1/2 an hour. I felt like I had just had the best night’s sleep of my entire life! I still fantasize about that. how I felt. damn. I’m ready for another colonoscopy! Good luck girl!
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I have had to do it also…. It was awful with the prep….. it was insane…. I cried, I wanted to sleep but couldn’t, just a warning… but afterwards having somewhat of an answer, knowing I didn’t have cancer (like they thought) was HUGE!!! I had the best dinner that night! 🙂 You will get through it…. If you can drink lots of chicken or vegetable broth the day before…. to me that was more “filling” than just ginger ale or gatorade…. but drink regular drinks with sugar…. trust me…. the sugar helps. It is superrrrr fast once you get there and then you are done!!!! 🙂 you got this!
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