On our trip to Washington DC on the Autotrain.
Taken at the Wedding expo…. Pavilon Grille
It has been a while since I have written a blog. I thought this would be an interesting read. Let me warn you, this blog may be real s….y!
Alice - trying very hard to extend my years
Alice has been VERY persuasive with me making sure my health is optimum and I will live a long time. She has strangled my jelly bean count, diminished my consumption of meat, and constantly nudges me to have eat less salt. Since we have been together she has persuaded me to go to: the podiatrist, the dermatologist, my first GP (General Practitioner), and others. Vitamins from Life Extension every morning including vitamins A-Z. It takes multiple swallows to get all my pills down.
Now, for the most exciting date of all….. A colonoscopy. It has been 12+ years since my last one.
My first colonoscopy
I will never forget my first experience with a colonoscopy. I remember waking up in a room with a dozen or so other post colonoscopies. All of us waking up and wondering where we were. The doctor was visiting the patients one by one. The patient right next to me who was there with his son, spoke no English so the son had to translate the words form the doctor. I will never forget the words. “I am sorry to say you have cancer and may have less than 2 months left to live….” I saw the oriental son with tears in his eyes translate the message to his father. Next up was ME. Now I was really worried. The doctor confirmed I had diverticulitis and no other real issues. I have been battling with diverticulitis now for well over 2 decades.
Fast forward to Alices request/demand I get my next colonoscopy. It just so happened she was also due for hers. We decided it made most sense for us to schedule the procedure on the same day. A date (actually the day before) that will go down in infamy.
Preparation date is the date before. No food is allowed and we started with multiple ex-lax pills. We were simultaneously coordinating all our prep work. Next up: a $100 each PREP kit called SUPREP BOWEL PREP kit. Multiple doses of this nasty tasting stuff with 2 gallons of water during the day. It is a REAL good thing we had 2 bathrooms.
Time for the pooper scooper
It started getting real miserable at about 5:00 pm. We both kept a meticulous LOG of how much liquid making sure we downed 2 gallons. Thank GOD we had 2 bathrooms. Two gallons in and two gallons out. How miserable.
At about 8:00 pm I looked at Alice and I said, “you look exactly like I feel…
After hundreds of trips to bathroom I finally fell asleep at about midnight.
We drove to the Gastroenterologist for our 8:00 procedure in Boynton Beach. Alice went in first and I followed her about 30 minutes later. I woke up to a smiling nurse not knowing where I was. The doctor met with me soon thereafter and told me all was well with no cancer polyps found. He also told me I had diverticulitis all over the place. Surprise, surprise.
Alice’s results … ALL CLEAR!
We took an UBER home and could not wait to end our fast with some real food.
Lesson to be learned:
GET your colonoscopy today! Unfortunately too many people die of colon cancer when it could have easily been solved by early detection. Many of us have lost someone close to us from colon cancer when a colonoscopy could have easily prevented it.