I’m Spending My Day on Medium, Close to the Bathroom

I’m having a colonoscopy tomorrow

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If any of my readers remember, I was hospitalized three times with a bowel blockage in 18 months. To determine the cause, I’ve had an MRI, tried the FODMAP diet, and attempted a video capsule endoscopy. The MRI showed nothing. The FODMAP diet helped decrease diarrhea, bloating, and stomach pain.

But before I could have a video capsule endoscopy, I first had to swallow a capsule without a camera to ensure the capsule would not get stuck. This failed, but luckily, the capsule dissolved after three days.

My doctors said it would be too dangerous to do the endoscopy for fear the camera would get stuck and need to be surgically removed. The last option was to have a diagnostic colonoscopy. And tomorrow is the day.

If no one has had a colonoscopy before, the actual procedure is not bad at all. It’s the preparation that’s a killer!

Four days before the procedure, I had to quit eating high-fiber food. Two days before the procedure, I had to stop eating solid food at 9 pm. The day before is the worst.

Today, I can only have clear liquids, such as tea, coffee, apple juice, broth, or jello. At noon, I took two laxative pills and prepared two 28-oz. bottles of Gatorade mixed with 8 oz. of Miralax laxative. Starting at 5 o’clock, I have to start drinking one of these bottles every 15 minutes until it is gone.

At 5 am tomorrow, I have to begin drinking the second bottle until that bottle is gone. I have to arrive at the hospital at 10:15 for the procedure. Shortly after this, I should be out like a light and wake up with the procedure finished, hungry as hell.

Needless to say, I won’t be doing much today. That is why I am spending the day on my laptop, engaging on Medium, and being as close to the bathroom as possible.

After this procedure, I hope I will find some answers as to why I have had three bowel blockages. If the colonoscopy reveals nothing abnormal, it will be good news. There is the possibility that the Ibuprofen I had been taking for my arthritis pains caused a stricture in my large bowel. I no longer take Ibuprofen, so hopefully, that stricture, if it existed, has disappeared.

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