I fail remedial colonoscopy prep

[pameladean]

ETA: All right, we seem to have dodged that bullet. I am going to bed, and some of you probably should as well. Thanks for the company.




You may all laugh now. I actually let HCMC talk me into trying the same prep again, only they added an anti-nausea drug to help me get the vile electrolyte fluid down. I changed pharmacies for the prescriptions so that I could be sure of getting the flavor packets, too, since I knew that that taste of the unflavored stuff would do me in at once.

The anti-nausea drug worked for two liters' worth and then wore off in a flash. The flavor packets were vile, but did taste different. However, I stuck at two liters. I could not do more. I decided I'd just keep to the regimen of clear liquids for the rest of the day, take the laxative tablets at the proper time, drink lots of fluids, and see if they thought I was well enough prepared for the procedure.

Right on schedule at around midnight, I started shaking hard, and my pulse rate went up. I drank some juice and a great deal of water, flagrantly breaking the rule about when to stop drinking stuff, but things didn't get better, so I called, reluctantly, the GI nurse on call. She turned out to be the person whom I'd talked to when I made the new appointment, who talked me into trying the prep again. She was chagrined and apologetic and very nice to me. She said that despite all the outward signs being propitious, two liters really was not enough, and she didn't think that I should be put in the ER again on the small chance that my system passed stuff along a lot faster than most people's. So she canceled the appointment for me, and I am regaling myself on toast and pomegranate juice.

I hope we can nip this in the bud so I don't land in the ER anyway. At least, with luck, if I do, they'll decide they don't have to do eleventy-one tests to make sure nothing scary is happening, since they just did them last month, and it wasn't. But I hope I can just not go there in the first place.

I am NOT going to do this again.

Now I am off to drink water and juice and anything else I can think of, barring, unfortunately, alcohol.

If anybody else is up this late, I do hope it's for better reasons. Nobody is to worry. Raphael is up with me, and I will certainly go to the ER, complaining loudly, if it seems indicated.

Pamela

Comments

[dichroic.livejournal.com]

I'm up for better reasons - it's midafternoon where I am - but I reserve the right to worry a bit anyway. I'm very glad you are in good company, though.

[noveldevice.livejournal.com]

Hey, any colonoscopy prep that doesn't land you in the ER is a success, whether it results in an actual colonoscopy or not, to my way of thinking. :)

Glad they cancelled you. I hope you feel better.

[pameladean]

Thank you.

Yes, the nurse was more distressed than I was at the idea that I had gone through all this nonsense for nothing. Keeping out of the ER was my main goal by the time I called her.

P.

[pameladean]

Goily, where are you?

I'll try to post an update about not going to the ER. But yes, the company is excellent, and my pulse rate is down already, so you probably needn't fret. It's awfully kind, though.

P.

[faithhopetricks.livejournal.com]

I am up because it's a bit of a white night, but I am v glad Raphael is up with you and hope v much you don't have to go to the ER (also I do not think anyone is going to laugh at you, man. If I remembered the remedial Greek for "doctors give you that which is good for you and tastes bad" I would quote it. I think all of us are pretty much culturally programmed to try to suck it up and bull through various medical procedures).

[dichroic.livejournal.com]

Not particularly kind, just the nature of the internets. You read someone's blog often and you get the illusion of knowing them, and find yourself worrying about their wellbeing, in an impotent sort of way.

I'm in Taiwan.

[dichroic.livejournal.com]

Oh - and also my mom's had ulcerative colitis as long as I can remember, so I 've heard plenty about how awful that stuff is to drink.

[serenejournal.livejournal.com]

I'm up at 1am because it's bachelor night and I have trouble making myself go to sleep when I'm alone in the house.

Oy. Poor dear. I have a cast-iron stomach, and I wish I could lend it to you!

[laurel]

Ugh. Glad it sounds like no ER trip will be necessary; also cool that the nurse was apologetic under the circumstances. And of course it's nice that Raphael is there with you.

I've been talked into trying things like this again myself more times than I care to admit.

I'm up because, um, I haven't been sleeping much. Supposedly am working on TV picks, but haven't gotten around to it yet.

[dd-b.livejournal.com]

Ouch. Well, don't forget to give them a hard time.

[shalanna.livejournal.com]

Eeek! (((((HUGS))))) Take care, and kiss R. for me.

My mother is facing a 'scope and is putting it off. I'm going to have to insist she do it next week, but it won't be easy. She has a similar problem, but she has that shortened colon from having had surgery on it before, so when she *goes* . . . well, it's not fun. With her low blood sugar issues, she has problems with trembling and weakness. Ick!

But thank goodness for modern medicine, anyway. Stinky as it is.

The pineapple flavor, I am told, at least for the stuff Mama has to drink, is the least gross. The orange flavor is icky, she says, and she can't drink it.

[pameladean]

Remind me of that when I go to explain to my doctor about how I'm not doing this again.

Hey, what are YOU doing up? *smooch*

P.

[pameladean]

Oh, I don't blame your mom for putting it off.

The GI nurse told me to put the flavoring in the glass rather than the jug, so that if I suddenly became unable to bear it, I wouldn't be stuck with an entire jug of it. The pineapple is indeed the least icky, but that is unfortunately not saying much.

Best thoughts for you mother. I wish we could all borrow a cast-iron stomach.

P.

[pameladean]

Yeah, it's the air of authority medical people have, I suppose.

Oh, dear, sorry about the insomnia. Good luck with picks.

P.

[pameladean]

Oh, yes, I have that trouble too.

I wish I could borrow your stomach too. We could just swap for the day. Mine is quite well-behaved when not insulted by electrolyte solution and laxatives.

P.

[pameladean]

I hope your night is a nicer color soon.

I think you're right about the cultural programming. I'd have even said, before this, that I was very resistant to it. I'll have to work on that.

P.

[dd-b.livejournal.com]

Wasn't getting back to sleep after the doorbell (did you see what that was about?), so I figured I'd have a snack and sit up for a bit.

[pameladean]

Taiwan, wow. I keep thinking I know you, but given the location, perhaps not. 8-)

I still think one has to have a grain of kindness to be moved by the plight of people far away.

P.

[dichroic.livejournal.com]

I'm American and have only lived in Taiwan for a couple of months, but I don't think we've met in person. (I have been to a grand total of one con, ever, WorldCon in LA a couple of years ago, and I've never been to MN.) But I think we do hang out around a lot of the same LJs.

And your name appears in my bookcases!

I hope you are better!

[faithhopetricks.livejournal.com]

....well the brights got less glaring after a few hours of watching Matthew Macfadyen (sp?) in Spooks via Netflix, oh yes. //facepalm

(You know what always gets me abt going to the doctor? Those dopey pain scales. Especially the ones with "owie" faces, dear Lord. Because on a scale of one to please-God-let-me-pass-out, migraine is wayy up there for me. But I'm not going to experience that pain unless I'm _having_ a migraine. Does that make sense? Probably not. I blame Matthew Macfadyen.)

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

As well she should have been. But I'm glad you managed to stay out of it this time.

[maiac.livejournal.com]

I had a colonoscopy last year. The test itself was nothing. I was out cold, and then the drugs wore off quickly but I still got the day off work. The prep? NASTY.

I can only hope that they come up with some less vile concoction before I have to have the next test, 9 years from now.

(When I read recently that Bush had a colonoscopy, my immediate thought was, "I hope the prep solution was even nastier for him than it was for me." That's how much I hate him.)

[cakmpls.livejournal.com]

I think it's hilarious that you two are talking to each other in LJ--just like me in the basement IM-ing my kids on the upper floors. What have we come to?

[cakmpls.livejournal.com]

This is ridiculous. There must be a better way to do this. I would gladly fast for, say, three days, and take purgatives of various sorts, to avoid this--and I didn't have near as much trouble as you did.

[sartorias.livejournal.com]

Hugs! Hope you are better this morning.