if i said you have a beautiful colon...

would you hold it against me?

a few of you have commented that i have been pretty quiet lately.

i have been trying to deal with some health things that have got me down. the first being the chronic cough that i have had for going on three years. i have FINALLY been referred to an ENT for sinus surgery that may or may not cure the cough. this comes after my refusal to try yet another new antibiotic and more steroids for another five weeks. i have spent most of this year on steroids and antibiotics with not only no improvement, but the condition had worsened. so... i am, even as i type this waiting for the ENT's office to call me back about setting up an appointment.

the other thing is that for the last few months i have been suffering with a REALLY low hematocrit and am severly anemic. so much that after taking iron for a month my hematocrit is actually lower than it was the month before by 1 point from 29 in february to 28 in march. so my doctor ordered a colonoscopy for me.

if you have never had one, and i suspect that most of you have not, the procedure itself isn't that bad. to me, the worst part of the whole ordeal was the prep solution that you need to drink the day before.


this is a four liter bottle of grossness that you need to drink to empty out your colon and bowels. and believe me, this stuff works. you don't want to drink this and then go on a road trip, that's for certain.

then the next day you go into the medical office where you are having your procedure. they get you up on the exam table in a gown open up the back, lay you down, get you hooked up to the bp and o2 sat machines and then they insert an IV. that's when the fun begins. about five minutes before the doctor comes in to shove a seven foot long cable with a camera on the end up your butt, the nurse will give you a dose of versed and fentanyl. woo hoo! good drugs!

the whole test lasts about 15-20 minutes, then they move you to the recovery room and let you sleep for a little while.

i was awake enough to talk to the doctor during the procedure. at the end when i asked him how it looked and he told me i have a beautiful colon and that it is 100% normal.



so, i guess that an upper GI is going to be next on my list.