So I turned 50 in August, and like any good patient, I did as my doctor asked and went in that following week for my first colonoscopy. I won’t bore you with the details. Suffice to say–I ended up in the hospital x-ray room and had to finish things up that way.
My hubby i
s 52 and a cancer survivor. Did he get his colonoscopy when he turned 50? No. I told him I’d brave the way. Well, after my ordeal, I’m thinking he’s never going to do it. But kudos to him, he made the appointment. I was so drugged during mine, I was sleeping sitting up in a hospital waiting room. When asked by the check in desk, what was wrong with me, my dear husband told them I’m always like that. I sleep sitting up at movies, at dinner, he can park me anywhere and I just doze off. Hah hah. So as pay back during his procedure, I told him I was going to bring popcorn and an Icee to watch him get the ol’ “yeah whoo!” up the rear end.
The doc we had do both our procedures allows a spouse to go in the room with them. When it came time for my husband’s, I went in–but no chow to watch the show. But here’s the deal–he saw how looped I was on the drugs so he opted to go drug-less. That was a first for the nurse in charge. She wanted to give him oxegyn and the doc said, “He’s not using the juice.” Another nurse came in to watch. I think they were like, yeah right–he’ll be screaming like a baby.
Well, they don’t know my husband. He laughed and talked the entire time. He said it was a little uncomfortable, but tolerable. The whole thing was done within 10 to 15 minutes. No problems. He was clean as a whistle–pardon the pun. He got dressed and we left, the nurses baffled on how to release a patient without the juice. The desk nurse said–he can just walk out. There was no recovery room, no “post” scope instructions other than resume your daily activities.
Thirty minutes later, my sweetheart was eating ribs and happy as a clam.
The moral of the story is–get your colonoscopy. They really aren’t so awful. Unless you’re me. But I did it and that hospital procedure I had to do felt like . . . well . . . the picture says it all.
