How....and at the same time? (I'm turning 53 and my doc suggested I have this done...but I'm scared sh_tless... LOL!)
As a physician myself, I am sometimes a bad patient and put things off although I know better. This year, however, I was motivated to get my colonoscopy after one of my friends who worked at the Hospital died of colon cancer this Fall in his early 50's. Another Hospital worker, one who even worked in colonoscopy, also waited until his late 50's to have it done and they discoverd colon cancer then. The surgeons and the pathologists had their's done in their mid-40's as they got spooked at the early colon cancer they see.
The "worst" part was the prep and it is no worse than having the "runs" for a day.
For the procedure itself, I had the "good stuff" (Diprivan)for sedation. You fall asleep, you wake up, it's all over, you go home wide awake without residual effects.
While starting the sedation, the anesthesiologist told me her brother had died of colon cancer. I asked how old he was and she said 63........He was a surgeon who had never bothered to get one until it was too late.
During my colonoscopy, they found one polyp. It was benign but the thing about colon cancer is that it starts out with benign lesions that turn to cancer many years later. It is a disease that practically yells out, "Hey, fool! I'm giving you a chance here!!" The polyps are taken out at the same time as the colonoscopy and you don't feel it. You only know about it later.
My friend's death that motivated me to get the colonoscopy may have saved me from the colon cancer I may have developed 10 years from now.
So, don't be scared.
Get your appointment and ask for the "good drugs".
Thanks...I will.
And I will ask him to slip me some VIOXX....my arthritis is killing me!
It's amazing how easy the actual procedure seems.
The gastroenterologist also looked at my esophagus and stomach during the same session as the colonoscopy (although not with the same tool, he assured me). I knew nothing about the endo, but woke up enough to watch part of the colon exam. No pain involved.
They did both during one session because I have some heart problems, and they put me in the hospital and had me wired up. Also, I had to come off warfarin for the procedure and the doc didn't want to repeat that unnecessarily.
I really dreaded the stomach exam, but it turned out that I didn't know a thing about it. Fortunately, everything there was normal.