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Yay, you're all done!!!

I'm a native Jersey girl and boy do I miss all the yummy food. Especially after just finishing my low residue lunch.

I understand why Michael Jackson liked prophenol.

First time they told me the name, I asked what is that? She told me it was the "Michael Jackson drug". I said, "Wait a minute - they said it killed him!" Agree, Lionne, I really like the way it works.

It's white because it's lipid based. We call it Milk of amnesia

Wait...you have SEVEN fractures in your back ??????????

Yeah, I’m going to stop whining abou my possible little pituitary tumor !

Good timing for this thread. I'm scheduled for mine this Thursday, with prep on Wednesday. To make you all feel better, I have to have them annually! I have a genetic mutation that puts me at a 40-80% chance of developing colon cancer. This mutation also explains my endometrial cancer seven years ago.

Both of my daughters have been tested for the mutation, and neither one had it, but in consultation with their docs, they had their first colonoscopies in their 30s (both in 2020 and 2021). And they both had polyps (I've never had any polyps), so they're on the 2-3 year recall plan, which sucks. At least I didn't have my first one until I was 50.

Anyway, we discovered this mutation three years ago, so this is my fourth procedure since then; prior to that, I'd had two, but spaced years apart. When I had my first one after the genetic mutation diagnosis, my GI in the Midwest had some bowel prep samples of a prescription for something called Clenpiq. It was new, and was supposedly low volume. So I used it and it was SOOOO much better than the other preps. Each bottle is about 5.5 ounces and it's cranberry flavored (you have to do it twice). Of course, after you drink it (the downside is it's not supposed to be refrigerated) you do have to follow up with the liquids of your choice. Another downside is that insurance does not cover it, but it's so much better than the other bowel preps that I pay cash for it.

Reminds me, I need to run to the grocery store to pick up popsicles, jello and Gatorade.

Another tip for others that I've used (the straw is a good one), is to chew some ice for a few minutes before drinking the prep. It will help numb some of your taste buds!

I'm glad to hear from others that sometimes these preps work slowly for them, too. Last year, six hours after I'd done the first prep, nothing had happened, and it was after midnight; I wanted to go to sleep since I had to wake up at 4AM to do the second dose. I was seriously afraid it wasn't going to work, so I called the GI on call. He told me to run to the pharmacy and pick up either an enema or suppositories. So H ran to CVS (thankfully we have a 24-hour one less than a mile from our house) and picked up some suppositories. Once I used the first one, things started moving along pretty quickly, and I didn't need one for the second dose early the next morning.

But every time I've used it, it has worked wonderfully, and it's less than a cup of somewhat distasteful liquid to drink. I'd highly recommend it.

It'll be interesting to see if they allow H to accompany me this year and hang out in the waiting room. Last year he had to go home, then they called him when I was done. I also remember last year, overhearing the GI doc talking to a woman in the next curtain next to me. She sounded a bit elderly, and he was telling her how he hadn't been able to get in there, that she was not nearly cleaned out enough, so she was going to have to reschedule and come back at a later date after doing the prep correctly. Now, I don't know what she did incorrectly, but she was not cleaned out even enough for him to give it a try. I thought, THAT would be miserable... to have to do it again. My belief is, do the prep once and get it over with. Don't try to cheat.

I've had three colonoscopies, I think. Maybe 4. I need a two day prep. The first time I prepped, they said, "Oh, you're not ready, prep another day." and then I prepped another day and they said, "Oh you're not ready prep another day and I said Go to Hell. Reschedule that thing and give me the "jug." But now it takes two days.

So the last one started with 4 ducalax in the morning. I asked the nurse if that was going to mess me up around 4:00pm when I needed to pick up my kid from school.

"It should be fine," she said.

Yeah right. I WAS fine until on my way home from picking my kid of from school and suddenly, a pressure and and alarmed look on my face while driving. I contemplated stopping at a gas station, but decided I could probably hold it.

hahahahahahahahahaha.

Thank the LORD I had vinyl seats and very easy to clean up. By the time I made it home, I'd released two rounds of ducalax inspired liquid. My kid had no idea what to say. A shower, and another round and I was ready to start the Miralax with gatorade. Two days of Miralax and a the Magnesium citrate and I was ready for the scope.

My other preps were much less dramatic, except I chose blue gatorade and by the end, it looked like you could dye easter eggs a bright green in my toilet.

I don't mind the procedure at all. It's a nice little nap. It seems I've been a little awake for one or two of them, but not much. The first time, when they found my cancer, they couldn't get the scope through the tumor. Which is EXACTLY why we need to get them. -

My prep starts tomorrow.

I'm a little worried because I also needed a two day prep last time. It wasn't because I didn't follow the directions. I was in the hospital an they could see from my X-rays that I needed a double prep. I'm hoping following the low residue diet all week plus being on a daily dose of miralx will be enough for a one day prep this time.

Minnesota, that was very brave to venture out after taking dulcolax.

Number4, I'm so sorry you have to do this every year. Ugh. It's good the test is available though.

My other preps were much less dramatic, except I chose blue gatorade and by the end, it looked like you could dye easter eggs a bright green in my toilet.

Wow... I'm not allowed to have anything red, purple, or blue! Thankfully there's a Gatorade flavor (blue raspberry) that comes in a clear color - otherwise I'd be sick of just green, yellow and orange (whether that be popsicles, Jello or Gatorade).

The only color I can't have is red.

I get the G2 because it has less sugar and tastes better. There is a Gatorade shortage so flavors are limited. I like the lemon lime but haven't been able to get that for months so I have some flavor that is blue.

Cheers!!

I'm all done.

Getting the IV started was far worse than the prep. It took an hour an 7 sticks. The IV team started. Then the anesthesia people came at my request. I asked to have my arm numbed if they were going to do more digging and push and pulling.

Doing the low residue diet and cutting back on eating definitely helped make the prep easier. I had some nausea and pain for about an hour. Overall not too bad. I also drank a lot.

I had a polyp removed so I am on the five year plan.

Good luck with yours Number4!!

Good luck with yours Number4!!

My anxiety is pretty substantial, but I get that way with almost any medical procedure (except maybe, a blood draw); has to do with my trauma from infancy/childhood where I had several invasive surgeries. Thankfully I had a therapy appt. this morning where we talked about a lot of this.

Just got back from the grocery store - got some Jello, Gatorade, popsicles and Jolly Ranchers... oh yea, I forgot to mention I'm allowed to have hard candy tomorrow, just not the forbidden colors. I was thrilled to see they now make a peach Jello! I LIVE for anything peach flavored. I also saw some peach frozen juice bars, but when I looked at the ingredients, it listed peach puree as the number one ingredient, so I passed. I also picked up some suppositories in case things take too long to get moving.

Glad to hear that, other than the polyp and IV difficulty, everything was OK. A five-year plan is tolerable. When I was younger and had my first couple of colonoscopies and was put on the ten-year plan, I kept telling myself that, in ten years, there must be some advances made in the prep. And I was right; what I do now is so much better than what I did eleven and eight years ago. So maybe in the next five years, there will be something even easier for you.

I was so sad to hear on Sunday that the wife of one of my daughter's high school teachers died that morning after a three-year battle with stage 4 colon cancer. She was younger than I am, by probably ten years - still has a kid in high school, along with other young adult children in various stages of launching. I guess I can only hope if I develop colon cancer, it would be caught early enough to avoid that kind of outcome.

Done, and just got home. Other than the drinking of the nasty stuff, I only had one sort of mix-up. For the last three colonoscopies, I requested (because that's how they did it in IL) for them to use propofol. But here in CA, Blue Shield is notorious for not paying for propofol, so I would pay the $250 out of pocket. It was definitely worth for me since it allows you to come out of anesthesia much more smoothly.

Yesterday when the surgical center called, I asked for confirmation that I was getting propofol. They said no, I was down for conscious sedation. They offered to call my GI doc's office and ask them if he could squeeze me in, in the afternoon schedule because, evidently, he does all his morning procedures with conscious sedation and the afternoon procedures with propofol ( I suspect it's because he has to coordinate with an anesthetist's availability). At the point we figured out all this out, he had no room in his schedule to do me in the afternoon - I had already gone until 3PM doing the no-solid diet and didn't want to have to repeat that again like I'd have to if I rescheduled to another day. So I agreed to the conscious sedation, which is way no more as much fun as propofol.

This was the first time I had any awareness of what was going on - their sedation cocktail is Versed and Demerol. There were a couple of times during the procedure that I felt some pretty difficult cramping, and they just told me to breathe deeply. And it only lasted ten seconds or so. But when it wasn't cramping, I could just tell something was being done inside me, that didn't hurt.

As for recovery, I'm far more loopy today than I have been in times past when I had propofol. I really needed a lot of aid getting dressed and walking out of the suite. I'm pretty wobbly and groggy (I've made many corrections to this post!), which I don't like. As soon as I finish my food, I'm in for a long nap this afternoon! I probably only got 4-5 hours last night.

Does anyone else have the fear that, on the drive between home and the clinic or hospital where they're having the procedure done, you'll have to immediately go to the bathroom? I mean, what can you do? There's no way to hold it if I needed to go. It's about a 20-minute drive from our house, on the freeway. The last four years I didn't need to go during that drive, but once I got into the office, it was almost immediately. I mean, what can you do? I guess I could buy some adult diapers just for the ride to the hospital!

As for good news, no polyps or anything found. My GI said he'd feel comfortable moving to an ever 18-month schedule since I'm supposed to keep getting upper endoscopies every 18 months; this way we can do both at one appt. and not try to coordinate one protocol that requires every year, and another protocol calle for every 18 months.

Off to take a nice long nap now!!

So glad it went well and you got good news. Hopefully you had an awesome nap. As far as eliminating the need to go in transit? You can do a fleet enema before you leave home. That should purge any remaining liquid in there.

When I started as a rush nurse conscious sedation was all we did. Depending on the dr depended on the cocktail. Most gave versed (i dont care and don't remember juice) along with Fentanyl (pain med) or demerol. Demerol sucks and makes q lot of people pukey. So recovery time was a lot longer and people ended up spending an hour or more in recovery. Which required more staff, and slowed things down. It also led to more complications because it hangs around in your system for a while. The transition to propofol with CRNAs or Anesthesiologists was made for patient safety and cost savings. Honestly given a choice between conscious sedation or Nothing, I would choose nothing.

Hope you get a good dinner tonight!

I had another polyp. Benign adenoma so yep, 5 year plan for me.

I take a bunch of meds to control my migraines and am vigilant about eating high protein snacks and staying hydrated, as well as keeping the same sleep schedule all the time. If I do all that, my headaches have been less frequent, meaning I no longer have a headache every day like I used to. The prep included eliminating my magnesium. That always throws me off. And the lack of food for all that time, the "nap" of the anesthesia, all worked together to set off my headaches. I've been fighting one since the day after the procedure. I have rescue meds but their use is limited. I have a cephaly device but have had to use it several times a day. I can't shake this and will probably resort to steroids. We are currently in Texas visiting, I'm not looking forward to a long plane ride home.

I get this is important, I'll be there in five years. But it sucks that I'm paying the price a week later.

Number4, glad it went well with no polyps. That's too bad about the propofol mix up. I was a little worried about having to go on the way there but I live a quick ten minutes from the hospital so I wasn't too worried. I would have been more concerned if it took longer to get that or there was the potential for traffic.

Lionne, I sympathize with the migraine problem. I was worried about the prep triggering one but thankfully it did not.

Looks like we are on the same schedule. We can meet again in five years.

More than anything I am dreading the IV. It took an hour and 4 people to get it in. When the IV team couldn't do it I asked the anesthesiologist to put it in and he blew me off. He ended up being the one, after 5 pokes and digging from others to get it in.

Glad we are done and had good results.

Who is next?

Number4, glad it went as well as it did in spite of the appt mixup. My BCBS has never had a problem with propofol but sorry yours did.

Lionne, I can really sympathize about the migraines. And about the plane trip coming up. Mine always used to hit when I traveled, but it seems mine have been pretty well 'cured'. I have only had one since xpos left and that one came from a combination of some of my worst triggers for them. And I have traveled a LOT in that time. In fact, the only time I took a long trip by plane when we were still together, I didn't get one either. One of the kids asked how my flight went and if I got a bad migraine and my answer was, "I think I left my headache home!". Didn't know that was a correct assessment!