Warning: This is a super long write up of my colonoscopy and it could be grotesque to some since I’m talking about colon and stuff.
Yesterday was the day for my colonoscopy. I got up at 6-ish and started the rest of the mixture prep, laced each glass with Crystal Light lemonade. By 7:45 I was done with the mixture and was in and out of the bathroom purging nothing but yellow water! Yellow in color from the mixture even though the mixture is clear white. Sorry, I know this is disgusting but it’s good info for myself when I need to do it again 11 years down the road!
My appointment was at 1:10. I was cold, tired and in a better mood than the day before. I blamed it on low sugar since I had no food in me over 24 hours. I took a little nap to kill time. FB-ing didn’t cut it either. When time to go, DB drove me to Park Nicollet Methodist Hospital in St Louis Park. It’s about 35 minutes ride.

The first thing I saw when I got up to the Digestive and Endoscopy Center was all patients who were waiting at their seats were old folks. I checked in and waited 15-20 minutes before the nurse called my name. I had my last duty call before the nurse called me actually which was good coz she did ask if I needed to go one last time. The nurse is an older lady, so sweet so gentle and she is also a dog lover!
She walked me in and stopped to pick up a blanket from a warmer. The temperature in the hospital was cool or DB said I’m just cold coz of no fuel in me.
She told me what to do when we got into the procedure room – undress everything except bra and jewelry and put on the hosp gown, and put my clothes and stuff in the bag provided. I should have brought my cellphone into the procedure room so I could take some pictures of the entire room with all the gadgets, monitors, tubes, this and that. A lot of weird things I have not seen before.
The nurse came back and talked to me about my medical history and praised how healthy I am. Then she had to look for the vein on my arm for IV and she couldn’t find it coz my vein was hidden – if i’m cold, my veins will go into hiding. She went out and came back with a few warm blankets, one to wrap my right arm up (IV arm) and another for my entire body. After a few minutes of chit chatting and walked me thru the procedure, I was getting warmer, she came over and set up the IV – actually to put the catheter in. She also said the doc is tied up with another patient and she has to go out to prep another patient up. She will be back and gave me the “button” incase I need something.
Finally the doc showed up together with the nurse. Doc S came in and was surprised to see a much younger doc. Was expecting a middle age doc! Doc S said I am his 42nd patient for the week. Dang that’s a lot of colon he has to look at! Hehehehehe…. Anyways, the Doc S asked me a bunch of questions on my poop, pain, blood. Looks like the best time to talk about poop is to a doc who works around that sort of thing!
After all the jibber jabbering, the nurse pumped in the meds to sedate me. Wow, after the first shot into my IV I felt “high” and the second was for relaxation. She already told me earlier I might fall asleep which some ppl do or me awake.
I was awake and watching throughout the entire procedure and asking questions as the tube goes up my colon. Can’t feel anything except for crampiness in the gut. Cramps is from the air the Doc puts in to inflate the colon for better viewing. My colon was clean as a whistle except for a part I asked if that was the culprit. The doc and nurse said yes, it’s an internal hemeroid. Oh and also the nurse kept reminding to take deep breaths, too, as she was monitoring my oxygen level. She mentioned earlier she will remind me to do that becoz of the sedation meds – the meds will make the patient breath shallower. Plus she said the deep breaths will help with the gut cramps.
When that was all done, total time was about 10 minutes, the nurse wheeled me in to the recovery room to rest before I head home. They will walk DB in to the room also. The first thing when the procedure was done, the nurse asked me what i wanted to drink…..water or juice – orange, apple, cranberry, grape. I asked for cranberry and once I got to the recovery room the juice was there for me. I sucked it down within seconds. It tasted heaven!
Here’s me in my HIGH glory look.

All I wanted was to sleep but first thing first, I asked DB to get my pursey thing and take pictures….all for the sake of blogging. Asked DB to take some pics of me first.

Then I took over the phone and took some pictures while slightly groggy.

My lovely catheter.

My bag of clothes.

And finally the designated driver reading up the post procedure instructions from the nurse.
Overall the entire procedure was painless unless you count the pain from the IV and cramps which was tolerable. First thing when I got home was snacked on crackers and drank a bunch of water. I had no water or any liquid after I finished up the prep mixture in the morning and took an hour nap.
I have definitely loss some weight and the skin is even clearer – all toxins cleared right out me I guess. So everything is positive from this outcome!
The remedy to bloodless stool is to take fiber supplements – Metamucil, Fibercon, etc. As of writing this I have not pooped since yesterday! Definitely a lot of veggies and oranges for dinner.
So there, the story of my colon check, all turns out good. Thankful for no major problems. 11 years down the road, I hope I will still have this blog to remind me what the procedure is.