Monday, March 15, 2010

IT'S OVER!

Hi all. I recently returned from having a certain medical procedure done to check for colon cancer. Thanks be to God, all is well. I spent an absolutely miserable night "getting ready" for the test, the worst time I've ever had. I'm not due for another colonoscopy for 5 years, at which time I will be 80 years old, if I live that long. When the time comes, I may say to hell with it.

Since I'm still groggy, and I can't type well, I'm heading for a lie-down in hopes of a little sleep, since I didn't sleep much last night.

38 comments:

  1. I know it is horrible, glad all is ok. My brother-in-law (2 years older than you) had one a year ago on the whim of the doctor, not much indication and the specialist was shocked to find the early stage of a very invasive cancer. While horrible the alternative is far worse and you can sleep more soundly now.

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  2. Une bonne nuit après les horreurs, et dormez bien!

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  3. Hope your rest went well. Tonight should be much more peaceful.

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  4. They told me I had the colon of an 18 y/o -- I am now averaging that with my birth years -- and feel much younger LOL

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  5. No fun. My sympathy. Hope the anaesthetic's out of your system quickly.

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  6. Rest well, dear friend. As I heard from someone who should know, this is something women as well as men should address with regular checkups. "It's all about punctuation: When finished with the period, it's time to think about the colon."

    Yes, I know.... leaving the stage...

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  7. Good news on the test - as Brian said, it is way better to know. Hope you sleep better tonight.

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  8. I napped a little until the phone woke me up, but I'm sure I'll sleep well tonight.

    Thanks all for the good wishes.

    They told me I had the colon of an 18 y/o

    Ann, I'm jealous.

    Tobias, you outdo yourself in punning these days. Did you pun as a child? I picture in my mind a 10 year old punning prodigy, punning his family and friends to near exhaustion. Were you that boy? :-)

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  9. Cathy and all, my maternal grandmother and aunt both had colon cancer, so I'm more careful because of the family history. And in five years, I will probably have forgotten last night's misery enough so that if I'm in pretty good health otherwise, I'll do the test again.

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  10. I had that certain procedure done. Drinking all of that stuff before the procedure was awful. So I do hope you are feeling better and resting well. My doctor's name was de Mille. I had twilight sedation. I do remember telling him, "Dr. de Mille, I'm ready for my closeup." I think everyone in their 40s is recommended to get one of those done.

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  11. Dear Mimi, no, sadly I can't take credit for being that child. I only really discovered humor in my early teens, through exposure to the Goon Show broadcast from WAMU (It turns out Simon Sarmiento and I were listening to the same broadcasts!). As I younger child I put people to sleep with long lectures on the digestive system. Fortunately, unlike members of the ACI, I outgrew that and took up humor.

    Seriously, glad this procedure is, shall we say, behind you. I'm still looking forward to my once every ten years exposure to gallons of unpleasant fluid (due this spring) -- and I don't mean a wedding reception!

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  12. The last time I had this procedure they used a much less unpleasant system pre-procedure. Ask for that one.

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  13. Mark, drinking all that stuff is bad, but that's hardly the worst of it. The procedure is nothing. So you had DeMille direct your pictures!

    Along with the written report, my doctor gave me a photo of my cecum. Sweet, no? Shall I scan and show? Actually, it looks like a biscuit.

    I'm feeling fine now, and I thought I'd be quite hungry, but I believe the anesthesia affected my appetite.

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  14. As I younger child I put people to sleep with long lectures on the digestive system.

    Tobias, the perfect comment to my post! You probably even know what cecum means. I had to look it up.

    Ann, I'll ask for the less unpleasant system next time. Remind me in 5 years. I notice that you didn't say "pleasant" system. No way could the prep be pleasant.

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  15. Hope you sleep OK. I was so full of the gas they pump into you that I was most uncomfortable. And the whole thing is ghastly but I am glad you are clean.

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  16. Two Auntees, thanks.

    Caminante, I am clean. And the procedure is behind me. I chewed a Gas-X, which helped a lot. Note: Gas-X does not work against ghastly.

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  17. Nighty-night, and peace be to you inside and out!

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  18. My mom died of colon cancer so I get regular checks. Sometimes I wonder if it is worth it the night before. The day after it is.

    Glad yours was a good result.

    FWIW
    jimB

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  19. Mimi, couldn't the MD have said afterwards, "Behold, I bring you glad tidings?"

    Because of my Crohn's, I have the "procedure" every two years. I have had either nine or ten--I'v lost count. The first one was an emergency procedure that revealed my Crohn's (which I have in the colon, not in the more popular small intestine.) Thank God, everyone was fine. The prep is indeed the worst part.

    By the way, the less unpleasant procedure, if it's the one involving phosphate sulfa, is no longer done, because the phosphate sulfa was giving some people severe liver or kidney damage. I've prepped three different ways, and I don't like any of them. The nice thing about the phospho suflate was that you didn't have to drink the really yucky stuff every half hour; you only needed to drink two or three glasses of the stuff and plain water for the rest of it. Which meant as much as 75 percent less yucky taste.

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  20. Ah, Kishnevi, Crohn's is a bitch. I hope that your condition responds to treatment.

    This time, I took Peg/Electrolyte, which did not taste bad. Several flavoring packs came with the 4 liter bottle, and I chose cherry. It was hard to drink the 8 oz. every ten minutes, hard to get that much down.

    What's bad is what follows. Last night, I had the worst time that I'd eve had.

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  21. Rejoicing with you.

    Tobias, Tobias, Tobias.... *head shake*

    Ann, my doc also said I had the colon of a teenager. I was delighted one part of me appeared/felt that young since the rest of me definitely does not.

    Very happy for you, Mimi.

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  22. "They told me I had the colon of an 18 y/o" Waiting for the punchline.

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  23. Jim, I'm sorry about your mom. You take care of yourself.

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  24. Catherine in JapanMarch 16, 2010 at 9:37 AM

    I am so happy to hear everything went well!

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  25. Here's to hoping that your next all-nighter will be something more enjoyable, Mimi.


    wv = wiress
    (a female conductor)

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  26. Catherine, thank you.

    Paul (A.), I'm long past choosing all-nighters. Nevertheless, inevitably and regrettably, a few come my way.

    Amazing! My colonoscopy post is currrently my most-visited page. What does that mean? I think it means that I should not post while I'm under the influence of anesthesia.

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  27. My mother died of colon cancer by the time she was 48 years old. This was back in the days of x-rays and straight sigmoidscopes. By the time I was approaching 50 my Primary had referred me for my first colonoscopy and by 55 we had found two pre-cancerous polyps. Thanks to this procedure, I hope to escape the fate of my mother. Who said, "I plan to live forever and so far it's working." I am glad your test is over and all is well with you.

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  28. Boocat, thank you.

    I pray that you stay well. I know that you and your doctor will take care to do the right thing.

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  29. Boocat, in my previous comment, I meant to express my sympathy to you for the loss of your mother at such an early age.

    My grandmother died from the cancer, but she was 80 years old. My aunt's cancer was caught in time. She survived and died of emphysema at around age 84.

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  30. Mimi, I expect you to live a robust life well into your 90s, so if there's colon cancer in your family tree, you damn well better get your arse, quite literally, to the doctor five years hence.

    Glad everything came out okay. (ahem!)

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  31. Elizabeth, thanks. Your comment did it. I'm changing the name of my blog to Pun City.

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  32. Not to unduly visit your most-visited page, Mimi, but let me point this out: As uncomfortable as the prep is for your procedure, it is vastly preferable to a similar result caused by unfriendly microbes that manage to clean you out at both ends (as it were) simultaneously. I just finished a bout of that, and there is no comparison!

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  33. Poor Paul (A.)! I believe you. I hope you're all better. Thanks for sharing. ;-)

    My most visited post is about bowels - mine and the bowels of others. I'd never have believed such a subject would fascinate so many.

    Solidarity! We are all 10 year old boys.

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  34. Not just fascination, but sympathy as well.

    It's one of those experiences that remind us about the ultimate lack of control we have over our bodies and ourselves.

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