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UC veteran facing c-scope 4/8: ugh!

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Posted 4/6/2019 6:27 PM (GMT 0)
Well, it's still not pleasant to think about after all these yrs of experience! Tomorrow I do the clear liquid diet + Miralax/64 oz. clear liquid prep, which will be generic unflavored pedialyte. about 6 yrs back Forum member Judy2 (Jujub), an RN, recommended Pedialyte mixing & I did find it less irritating/disruptive to King Colon than flavored drinks or juices. So, fingers crossed because ye olde bladder is not super-strong since my pelvic surgery a while back & I fear it will hate the 64 oz. mixture even more than gut does. Planning to start the prep by early afternoon instead of evening, which worked well when I used that routine pre-pelvic surgery. (Gastro had reported post-scope that colon prep looked good: LOL. Like getting a gold star from your teacher!) / Old Hat (38 yrs with left-sided UC; presently in remission taking brandname Colazal)
Posted 4/6/2019 7:26 PM (GMT 0)
Yay on the past gold star....hope this prep goes smoothly. Since you will be expelling most most of the fluid via colon, your bladder might be gladder?

Looking forward to hear how it goes.

Hugs,
q
Posted 4/6/2019 11:18 PM (GMT 0)
Good luck. Let us know how it went.
Posted 4/6/2019 11:36 PM (GMT 0)
Good luck Old... You're wise to avoid the juices. LOL I used apple juice on my last prep...couldn't even LOOK at apple juice after a month without gagging!!!
Posted 4/9/2019 7:49 PM (GMT 0)
Thanks for that quip, Quincy! Bladder was indeed gladder thru 1st half of 2nd purge liter-bottle. But I needed to neutralize the "non-taste" with Evian by then-- so bladder got into the act, too. I drank the stuff spread out from 1:45-6 PM & started to unload after 1st liter-- ca. 3:30 PM. By 8:30 PM colon seemed to emit clear liquid + mucus bits so I thought YAY, I'm finished & can have a good sleep. Well, that was NOT the case 'cause I started having urgency & spurting blood at 9:30 PM! What to do? That olde scary feeling ... Decided to put my faith in standard dose of Colazal at 10 PM 'cause I was allowed to drink water 'til 8 AM on 4/8 & it helped somewhat. Then I still needed to spurt a couple times by 6 AM so I only got a couple hours sleep at best. Yuck!!!!!! Pre-scope gastro thought it could be a flare, but, luckily, it turned out to be internal hemmies venting their rage. No fun; however that seems to be the worst of it as gastro found mucosa + vascular pattern ok into 20 cm. of terminal ileum. Now we wait for labs. Oddly enough, the backs of my lower legs ached when I returned home from scope (below calf & downward toward ankle). Taking things easy today instead of rushing out to do chores. / Olde Hat (38 yrs with left-sided UC; presently in remission thanks to brandname Colazal)
Posted 4/10/2019 12:45 AM (GMT 0)
Glad it's over and it sounds like great results.
Posted 4/10/2019 5:01 AM (GMT 0)
Great that the prep wasn't too bad...sucks that wrathful hemmies reared during the process...owie.

Congrats on the great scope. Hope the biopsies are unremarkable.
q
Posted 4/10/2019 11:38 AM (GMT 0)
Happy for you that you're done.
Hope you're legs are better today.

Jayce
Posted 4/10/2019 11:15 PM (GMT 0)
Thanks all, for your support! Butt felt like ground-in glass when I got to med center-- so mainly thankful that gastro uses a lot of lube & also suctions out any air at the end of scope. I feel lots better after a couple rounds of Proctofoam HC, but am still a bit tired out from the whole process. Jayce, the lower leg pain did go away by Tuesday AM; I'm still not up to my usual speed, though. That was my 1st visit to DH Koch 8th floor, & it is a vast improvement over the old central endoscopy unit across the street, TG!!!! / Old Hat (38 yrs with left-sided UC; presently in remission taking brandname Colazal)
Posted 4/11/2019 3:04 AM (GMT 0)
Glad it went well, thinking of you.
Posted 4/12/2019 12:59 AM (GMT 0)
Great to hear from you, Katmom! Your daughter was going on to law school post-surgery, right? / Old Hat (38 yrs with left-sided UC; presently in remission taking brandname Colazal)
Posted 4/20/2019 12:51 PM (GMT 0)
Hi OH -
I had not been checking posts so I missed wishing you well in advance. Glad you got through it and it sounds like the results were good? I figure by now you have the path results...? I hope they are unremarkable!

I always felt a little "off" the day after a scope. I used to think it was all in my mind until I realized that other drivers tended to honk at me a lot on the day after! And that was when I was 20 -30 years younger! I imagine these things take more recovery time as the years go on.....I am thinking about this kind of thing a lot these days as I head into my next medical adventure. I don't want to spend "down time" but... what is realistic? And where is my Owner's Manual with a chapter for each bodily system and possible ramifications of each procedure? And like my car place, shouldn't we get a "loaner" if a procedure debilitates us for a certain amount of time....? smile
Posted 4/20/2019 6:22 PM (GMT 0)
I just use a 1L enema two times the morning of the scope, and fast for 12 hours before so there's no food coming down from above. Works every time. I refuse to drink that prep garbage.
Posted 4/21/2019 2:00 PM (GMT 0)
I like your thinking Song. Didn't my parents get a owners manual for me like one I just got for my new flat screen???? NOT. even though I just turned 60 I don't even let it enter my mind that I'm Old.......er. My knees tell me and I'm still trying to get my wind After Hernia surgery 6 weeks ago. Have to get to gym bc body won't be able to take the beating it takes from working etc. have to tone muscles. Happy holiday
Posted 4/21/2019 11:31 PM (GMT 0)
YES, Quincy & Songlady-- I did get the pathology results a few days back: "NO GRANULATOMA NOR DYSPLASIA"!!!!!!!! Needless to add, I feel relieved. However, the report does not mention overall length of colon, just the cm. markers where biopsies were taken. It leads me to suspect that colon has become even shorter than it was last C-scope; I'll ask gastro at office visit in a couple weeks. I'm hoping to gain some insight that will help me with bladder function, too, because the CT-scan contrasts I got post-pelvic surgery in 2015 messed that up royally so I still have trouble with UT urgency, even after learning PT exercises to improve muscle control. It seems like those blasted IV contrasts wiped out my bladder mucosa, rats! (Besides causing me periodontal problems.) This is NOT my imagination; the chemicals in those contrasts are too strong for some of us to tolerate well./ Old Hat (38 yrs with left-sided UC; presently in remission taking brandname Colazal)
Posted 4/22/2019 6:30 PM (GMT 0)
Congratulations on your pathology results!

I've never asked how long my colon is...interesting. why do you think your has shortened? At least not longer...!

I didn't remember you having bladder function issues. I hope you get answers.

What periodontal issues are you having?

Seems I'm having memory problems..lol.

q
Posted 4/22/2019 9:42 PM (GMT 0)
Quincy, colon definitely has shortened since my 1980 DX. At that time I asked the doc about its length as all available lit back then said human colons were 4-6 feet long! So that doc told me my length at start of UC monitoring. Then around 2006 I noticed that my scope report ended with mention of 80 cm. site so I asked my IBD subspecialist gastro about total length of colon & repeated the measurement at DX C-scope. Gastro replied that UC can indeed shrink the colon lengthwise over time, as well as narrowing the lumen. (So somebody can make a film called "The Incredible Shrinking Colon" ... LOL!) *** Not unusual to have bladder function issues post-TAH, but mine seemed to come from CT-scan IV contrasts reaction. The same for periodontal issue, which involved a previously-fine dental implant! (Also got an epiretinal membrane in 1 eye around the same time.) So I really detest those contrasts!!!!!! / Old Hat (38 yrs with left-sided UC; presently in remission taking brandname Colazal)
Posted 4/23/2019 12:14 PM (GMT 0)
Never had a doctor measure my intestine's length before.

Last flex-sig I had, I asked the new doc how far he went, and he said "no idea, descending colon maybe transverse." My old doctor could tell me in CM how far he was in.
Posted 4/23/2019 6:39 PM (GMT 0)
LOL ipoop.
Interesting! I'll enquire about that during my c-scope in June.

Never thought about contrasts causing issues such as you described....insult to injury.

Hugs,
q
Posted 4/23/2019 10:04 PM (GMT 0)
They don't actually measure the colon, but can tell its length from cm. markers on the scope covering. So maybe your gastro used an unmarked flex-sig scope, ipoop, when he said he had no idea how far he went. (Or maybe the markings had worn off the scope covering after yrs of use & disinfection [?]) *** QUINCY, RE CT-scan contrast issues, I finally asked an experienced PT I know about side effects because MDs seem reluctant to discuss them; she said that some contrasts can cause muscle spasms just about anywhere in the body. The one that definitely caused me bladder spasms was the pulmonary embolism contrast, and I had argued like blazes to avoid that scan post-TAH surgery. As things turned out, I did NOT in fact need it-- because my lower pulmonary lobes had developed atalectasis due to 9 hour wait lying prone in Recovery room until an in-patient room finally became available for my transfer; plus the respiratory therapist did not bring me a breathing exercise pitcher for 2 days-- so my blood was only oxygenating about 83% of normal. For sure that is how many patients get messed up; I had a terrific gyn-onc surgeon who took excellent care of me, but the associate staff flopped at a basic post-op process. Grrrrrr. / Old Hat (38 yrs with left-sided UC; presently in remission taking brandname Colazal)
Posted 5/12/2019 9:29 PM (GMT 0)
QUINCY, saw gastro for post-scope follow-up visit last week & asked about colon length. Gastro replied that mine did not shrink further since previous scope-- so, good news on that account! Gastro also said that sometimes they remove a section of the scope prior to performing the procedure; in that case the cm. markings do not figure significantly, which was likely what happened at my event last month. In answer to a Q I asked RE photographed color difference in one section of colon compared to the other section photos, gastro replied that the scope light was deliberately turned off there! Of course I then wanted to know why, but didn't ask. It might be because the brightest light reveals the vascular pattern in the mucosa & in some photos, the doc doesn't care about the vascular pattern but is focusing on some other quality in that section of colon. So the colonoscope is an interesting machine that can do more tricks than we'll probably ever find out about ... I sure miss being able to watch the scope monitor in former yrs because it was VERY interesting. Really hate being blacked out! / Old Hat (38 yrs with left-sided UC; presently in remission taking brandname Colazal)
Posted 5/13/2019 4:31 PM (GMT 0)
Hi OH....whew, your colon isn't shorter! Interesting about the measurement even being noted if the numbers aren't reliable regarding scope sections etc. Good you asked.

I'm suspecting that the bright light would obscure or glare on the shiny surface of the colon in a picture. I've had that in some pics.

I have my scope in 3 weeks....I'll ask him about length and light colour observances.

Thanks for the update...😁
q
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