Our Apologies for the delay in posting anything new, we’ve been busy lately but over the next few days I will try to catch up with a few new posts. Monday – July 19, 2010 - This post is way off the topic of the normal subject matter of Brain Tumor Parent, but since it involved one of Kellee’s parents, there was an executive decision made (by me) to include this anyway. I am sure many of you have heard about a certain procedure which the medical community strongly suggests people who hit the age of 50 have to check a particular area of anatomy for abnormalities. In other words, the dreaded colonoscopy! Having hit that milestone in the year of our Lord 2009, Kent was due for such a procedure. By the time I had my yearly physical in 2009, my doctor recommended I schedule one soon. However, at this time our flex spending money was gone and I elected to wait until the following year. The doctor allowed me to wait only if I took a home a test which involved throwing pieces of paper into the stool after a BM and seeing if they changed colors. There were colors you wanted to see and others you didn’t. I passed this test with flying colors! Fast forward about 8 months, I was in the office of my other doctor, (yes I have a whole cadre of doctors) and he asked me if I have yet to have a colonoscopy. When I answered no, and told him why and that I had been told I would need a physical before I could have one scheduled, he asked me if I wanted the visit on that day to count as a physical, he would only have to do a couple more tests and order an EKG and it would qualify. I agreed, since earlier on the same day I had been talking to a co-worker who had a family member with colon cancer who just had surgery to remove the colon. So it was on my mind. The procedure was scheduled for Monday 7/19/10 so I wouldn’t have to miss work on the prep day (A recommendation from another co-worker). Later the next week I received a some instructions explaining the prep and procedure and a prescription in the mail for the clean-out juice officially called Movi-Prep. As the day approached, having shared with some co-workers what lay ahead in my schedule I was dreading the day more and more and mostly because of the horror stories I had heard about the pre-colonoscopy preparations then the procedure itself. Sunday the 18th was prep day, the instructions said not to eat anything I had to chew that day and to start drinking the explosive cocktail later in the afternoon. Turns out this Sunday was the day my mother-in-law decided to have our family over to celebrate my birthday. While the family feasted on ribs and all the trimmings I ate applesauce and pudding, Happy Birthday to me!
The go juice was powder to be mixed with water; one packet to be used for the day before and another for the morning of the procedure. 8 ounces of the mixture is to be consumed every 15 minutes until it is gone; results usually begin within one hour. (I think the last time I drank a number of ounces of a liquid every 15 minutes was back in college but that is a different story.) Here is where the wonder of modern medicine really comes into play, how they can make something that will move through a body so quickly is beyond me. Eat and drink normally and a person can reasonably go hours, if not days, without having to make a trip to the water closet. Not so when you take Movi-prep! The liquid becomes a tsunami on the inside and pushes everything out to sea, so to speak. The timing was pretty close and that is all I have to say about that. I had to get up at 4:00 the next morning to start it all over again.
I was instructed to report to the front door of the hospital 1 hour before the procedure. Heidi dropped me off on her way to work; she was driving the Metro because Kellee was using the Honda van on a trip to visit a friend in Cedar Falls. The white van he normally drives was in shop getting the AC fixed, more on this later. While checking in at the hospital I expected they would want to see and most likely take a copy of my insurance card, it seems like the ask for that each time you visit the doctor. Nope, didn’t ask for that, they asked for my driver’s license so they could take a copy of it. I hesitated, that seemed strange and I asked why they needed it. “To prevent identity theft” I was told. I replied “so you asking a copy of my license and placing my information in another location will prevent identity theft?” She told me this will help prevent someone from getting medical services using my name. I thought; “shoot if someone wants to be a stand in for me in this procedure steal my identity away!” But I didn’t say that, “Are you uncomfortable with me copying your license sir, if so I don’t need to take a copy?” “Good” I said. After check-in, I think it was me they brought to a waiting room. There was one other victim, I mean patient in the waiting room for the same procedure. I was shown to a staging room and told to strip and put on a fashionable dressing gown; however I could leave my socks on. I guess they don’t like to look at feet! An IV was started, blood was drawn and they went over the list of all the possible things that could possibly happen as a result of the procedure, including death. I wasn’t worried; I had survived the prep when I felt like I was dying for the inside out. I was also told I would be given a drug that would make me forget and for that reason when the procedure was done I needed to have someone drive me home. I gave them Heidi’s number to call so she would come and get me. Soon the doctor came in to tell me I was second in line and to ask if I had any questions. The only question I asked was how many of these he had performed, he said he did about 500/year. Wow, I can’t even imagine, but it was good to know he was experienced. About 25 minutes later they wheeled me into the room where I saw they had about 1350 feet of tubing laying on a the table, I nearly passed out! They turned me on my side, talked to me some and the next I knew I was back in my room and they were asking me how I felt. I really don’t remember much, I know the doctor came in and told me they found nothing there so I was good for 10 years, yeah! I don’t remember putting my clothes back on, but when Heidi came and got me I was fully dressed. On the way home Heidi said I told her the details I remembered at least 2 times, the wonderful effects of the forgetful drug. Heidi dropped me off at home and plopped into the recliner. There I rested/slept for a couple of hours. Later in the day, the phone rang and it was the shop saying the white van was fixed, AC worked and was ready to be picked up. I thought, now would be a good time to call Kellee, tell him about the van and give him a report about my procedure. When I called him and told him about the van having AC, he was excited. No more hot summer treks to Ottumwa to lead worship at The Bridge. Then I told him my procedure went fine and they found nothing and I was good for ten years. He replied, yes dad, you called me this morning to tell me that. Man those were good drugs; I didn’t remember I had called him. So right here and now I apologize to anyone who may have received n incoherent phone call from me on July 19, 2010. I took it easy the rest of the day in between trips to the restroom.
(I am finally getting to the Zofran part now), in the evening Kory, Heidi and I were watching “As Time Goes By” and I started to feel real cold, and nauseous and soon I got the shakes so bad I could not control them. We took my temperature and it was under 100° but I felt so cold, I could not stop shaking. My body hurt from all the shaking. Heidi called into the ER and told them what was going on, they said to keep an eye on my temp and if it climbed above 101° to come into the ER. Late my temp was nearly 103° so into the ER we went. I was placed under a warm blanket given some fluids and, wait for it, Zofran for the nausea. After about 2 hours I was sent home. The doctor thought I probably had a virus that just happened to hit me and it might not have been related to the colonoscopy at all. I stayed home from work the next day to get fully recovered.
The colonoscopy experience is not so bad, but I am glad I can wait 10 years before I go back!
