TriLyte Taste Tips

Another correspondent went through the prep day for her own colonoscopy today, which leads me to the following two additional tips, both relating to the TriLyte solution.

First, the orange may in fact be slightly, slightly more palatable than the citrus-berry I had. Second, one of the nurses suggested to my spouse that she use a little powder from one of the unused flavor packets occasionally at the rim of the glass to give a little extra flavor. She notes that that does in fact help a little.

More information about colonoscopies and other screening procedures

Here's some Good To Know Info from the blog of the same name, about colon cancer and what you can do to avoid it. Dr. Razavi is a medical doctor at Google and her blog is well worth a read.

Biopsy Results

I am pleased to inform you that your colon polyp evaluation by our pathologist shows hyperplasia. This is a benign finding that menas the tissue is not a "true polyp" and you are at no increased risk for colon cancer.

I had gotten a pretty strong sense from the doctor that he wasn't too concerned by what he'd found during the colonoscopy, but I'm still glad to see the results on paper.

And to reiterate what I said early on, I still feel this test was appropriate, with a significant family history of colon cancer, it really did make sense to do the test, and that history will not weigh on me in the years to come between now and the next colonoscopy. That is a comfort indeed.

Three Days after the Colonoscopy

Still a few days before the polyp biopsies are back, yesterday I had my first elimination after the colonoscopy. There was no blood, which was nice, I'd been almost told to expect some, and given an indication that I should worry if I saw blood in quantities like "a half a cup at a time". I'd probably have been alarmed at much less than that, but at least so far, no blood at all. Hooray.

Several hours after the colonoscopy

I've been a bit sleepy but by all accounts am now functioning pretty normally now, I ate around noon, have no pain, discomfort, or even odd sensations other than having had a little more gas than usual. What a simple and basically pain-free procedure!

The Procedure

(This was written about 12:15.)

Arrived for the procedure about 8:20, where a nurse went through what would happen, double-checked I'd followed the critical prep instructions, got me undressed, in a gown, under a blanket, and a saline IV started.

I hadn't thought about that, but the saline IV makes sense, you don't want a dehydrated patient, and I was told to stop drinking fluids entirely starting at about 3 this morning, so the IV gives back a little of that fluid without getting in the way of the procedure. It also gets one cold, thank goodness for blankets. And socks, you're allowed to wear socks--why did I leave the colorful stripy socks at home today?

I was walked into the procedure room, nurse carrying the IV, got down on the exam table. There I met the doctor performing the procedure for the first time. He went through was going to happen--that they were going put both air and then water into me to open things up for the endoscope, etc., then they
moved me over onto my left side, and started the quote-good-drugs-unquote, Versed or something like it.

I don't have memories of most of the procedure, but I have a pretty clear memory (accurate or not) of seeing one polyp before and after removal, moreover, my memory roughly matches one of the Polaroids that they provided after the procedure. I remember being wheeled out of there, but I don't recall actually feeling any sensation of the endoscope in my anus at any time. Studies have shown that there can be some level of "false memories" during Versed, so ...dunno.

The doctor explained to me that they'd removed four things, two of which were likely polyps, the other two might have been or may not have even been up to that stage, all four were removed, the biopsies will be done in 7 days. I remember this from the procedure room and it matches what is written down on the paperwork I got from them. At this point they also provided me the aforementioned Polaroids.

Got wheeled back into another room where I rested, was eventually allowed to dress (in the adjoining bathroom). I have a bit of a memory of being walked out of the building, and a seemingly mostly coherent set of memories from the way home. I definitely feel spacey, a slight bit of balance, and I think I am still having bits of short-term memory drop-out, but all in all if anything this was a less strong dose of the amnesia, and a relatively pleasant procedure. I've already eaten, there's no nausea, no pain, definitely some gas but no cramping, so I'm in a very good space indeed.

Heading out...

Slept well, a few noises from the tummy, not super-hungry, if I were allowed I'd probably have some coffee or water but I'm not feeling either need strongly. It's about 7am here, procedure starts at 9:20, hope to be back home around noon.