An aborted probe
Can you imagine anything worse than going through the hours of prep for a colonoscopy, by far the worst part of the whole ordeal, only to find out it didn’t work? It happened to my husband and thereby started the day off badly for both of us.
He follows medical directions to the letter. So he ate the clear diet all day yesterday, faithfully took the 2 Ducolax pills at 4:00, and then started in on the 4 liters of Trilyte at 6:00, in preparation for an early morning appointment. The idea is this combination of cocktails cleans out your system so that the doctor can see your colon during the procedure. By the time I went to bed at around 10:30, nothing had happened. He talked to the on-call doctor who assured him that it is only about 2 cases out of 4,000 a year their office does that have to be delayed because the prep fails. When he came to bed at 1:00, he was quite uncomfortable, but still nothing was happening. He was obviously extremely constipated to defy that onslaught of flushing. He told me he was going to cancel and that I could just sleep in.
However, I was rudely awakened from a deep sleep because he had been unable to contact the office by phone and wanted me to drive over and tell them he wasn’t coming. I tried to hide under the covers, but he threatened that if he were to go he might have an accident in the car.
So in the middle of flash flooding at 7:30, I dutifully jumped in the car without even brushing my hair and drove to the office to personally beg off for him. I think his real reason for not going was he thought they might insist that he continue drinking Trilyte until his system was cleaned out.
If it had been me, I would certainly have wanted to get the show on the road and over as quickly as possible. But no, he rescheduled for a day next week and now has to do 2 days of prep to get ready. I would be asking for something to calm my nerves in addition to the new Rx of Trilyte if I had to repeat this procedure.
So he can eat again, but he has to live with the anticipation of what's to come next week. We both badly need a vacation, an escape from the reality of our current existence!
posted by Barbara at 3:38 PM
9 Comments:
Oh, poor fella - and poor you, too! Hope all goes well (or as well as it can) next time.
Hi Barbara: doesn't sound very pleasant all around.
I hated the prep more this year than last but to go through it twice! I don't think so. Poooooooooor David! And you are good wifey to go to the doctor's office! He owes you big time! Or........... maybe this was payback for post-hip surgery? (Not intentional of course but think you might be even!)
Ugh, so sorry he has to go through the prep again. That stuff is nasty! Maybe he should eat nothing but vegetables and whole grains this week to get things moving a little sooner.
I can't imagine where all the stuff he took went. How could it not work? It seems so strange to me. When I had one all I had to do was drink some stuff I bought over the counter. Better luck next time.
Bozoette -- I'm sure we will both be happy when it's over next week!
Tut-tut -- There is nothing pleasant about this procedure, but until something better comes along, this is what we do to be safe.
Kate -- I would like to think he would have done the same for me...
Cyndy -- Good advice. I passed it on and will think about it as I cook next week.
Gary -- (Not to be too graphic) As for the 4 liters of liquid, they were eliminated, just not the right way. I've done 2 of these and never had this problem at all. In fact I never even had to drink the whole thing to get to the "all clear" point!
I think my computer eats my comments... I hope all goes better the next time around. I feel for both of you!
(When I saw the word "probe" in the headline I knew this wasn't going to be pleasant...)
I second what Gary said. I've never heard of anyone taking the prep and having it be ineffective. Wow! Poor David!
I agree with Steve and Gary ... surprised.
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