Recently I have been having some trouble in the waste management department of my body, if you get my drift.  I made an appointment with my gastroenterologist. Don’t we all have one? (I’d rather have a personal shopper or at-home chef!)

I write this, for the same reason that I write a lot of my posts. I’d like to let people know about my experiences and maybe demystify some of the concerns and fears that we all have over major tests that go on in life: mammograms, blood tests and colonoscopies. On Tuesday, I had an appointment with my doctor. She is a lovely woman who is kind and caring and I believe, somewhat cautious and paranoid, like me.  Things you want in your doctor. So she examines me, ugh, takes some tests, and leaves the room for about 10 minutes. When she comes back in she asks, “How about tomorrow at 2pm we do a colonoscopy? Spur of the moment.”

Spur of the moment to me is let’s go to Bermuda or yes, I know those shoes are $75 but what the heck! Spur of the moment is not stop eating, oh, and drinking coffee right now and go to the pharmacy and pick up these items and get started. “Wait, What?”

It’s 5am on Thursday morning and my husband went to the gym, lucky dog.  There is no way I can.  Just not feeling 100% yet.  My belly is still talking to me wondering what the heck just happened.  I am sitting here in the glow of my Christmas Trees and eating Perreca’s toast.  Perreca’s toast makes everything better, that and a little Pastina.

Anyway, it’s over. And my point to you all is do not wait.  Don’ be afraid.  See your doctor if you think something is wrong.  Yes, the prep for a colonoscopy is awful. I won’t lie. My poor husband sat on the bathroom floor with me from 2am to 4:30am as my poor body eliminated everything and anything that was in there. I’m not a big eater and jeez Louise!

The test itself is painless. Honestly painless. I got to the hospital at 1:00pm; was prepped by 1:45pm and home in my bed by 3:30pm.  I don’t remember much at all.  I was so nervous and they were so kind.  This was not my first one so I knew what to expect.  I woke up feeling a tiny bit drowsy and really no worse for the wear.  I had a ginger-ale and was on my way home.  I think a tooth filling at the dentist hurts more than this test did.

The issues I had were uncovered during the test and turned out to be, thank God, minor correctable issues.  But it may have been something else and that caused her to want to do that test asap.  I am glad I did it to determine the cause.  The fear of  what could be is sometimes greater than the fear of acting.  I felt so relieved but at the same time I thought about all those people in that surgical center and I feel like I do when I leave my oncologist.  I feel for the ones that did not get good news or have been suffering with problems for some time.  So again, my point is please don’t wait. Listen to your body and find out what’s wrong.

When I left there, I had piece of mind, and some lovely color glossy photos of my colon.