[–] blue_sauce_bean 4 days ago
[–] FuriouslyAdrift 3 days ago
[–] andrewjf 3 days ago
[–] blue_sauce_bean 3 days ago
The hardest part was probably convincing my doc that “yes, I’m sure I don’t want sedation.”
The procedure took under 15 minutes, with only about 2 minutes at the start being quite uncomfortable (“beesting way up my butt”). After that, it just felt like a bad case of gas rumbling through my gut. It wasn’t pleasant, but I’m not sure it is that much worse than a painful dental cleaning.
The doctor was quite good at talking through what we were seeing on the big screen. I didn’t feel anything when he used forceps to remove a few tiny polyps. I felt good that I saw the “problem spots” in realtime and could ask questions. (I’d likely have stressed out with a “we found a few tiny polyps” report after waking from sedation.)
After the procedure, I was free to leave. I put on my clothes and immediately left to walk home. No issues throughout the rest of the day.
I’m glad I skipped the propofol, and will skip sedation in the future.
Starting on Friday, I followed a “low residue diet”. This primarily meant no fibrous fruits/veg or whole nuts/seeds. It was inconvenient but not hard.
Yesterday I started a “clear liquid diet”, which meant that I did not eat anything and only drank apple juice, gatorade, and the prescription prep solution. Starting at 5pm and going until about 6:45p, I drank half of the prep solution, which was like 64oz of stuff that tasted like flat Sprite. Right about the time I finished drinking, the draining out the other end began. It wasn’t a problem, and didn’t hurt, but I did visit the bathroom about 10 times over the next 2 hours with another few throughout the night.
I slept great overnight, and now I’m getting ready to start the second half of the prep solution. I’ll drink it over a 90 minute span, beginning four hours before I am scheduled to arrive at the endoscopy clinic.
(I’m also planning to have my colonoscopy without sedation. I have a very high pain tolerance, and was told that I’ll be able to watch the realtime video feed!)