Friday, May 9, 2008

In through the out door........

Today is the day for my yearly trip to the GI clinic where I get my innermost innards scoped, cleaned, and given a good once over. One of the other things that afflicted me in addition to the liver disease was a case of ulcerative colitis, requiring a yearly visit to have my pipes inspected.

Anyone that has ever been through this knows that the procedure itself is not bad, especially with the fun sedation that they give you. It is the best legal high I have ever had, especially as they give you Fentanyl as part of the cocktail. I first encountered this wonder of modern medicine while in the ICU after my transplant. Simply put, you can get hit by a truck while on this stuff and just not care.

The not so fun part is that you have to practically starve yourself the day prior, save for stuff like broth, tea, etc. You also clean yourself out......thoroughly. This involves something akin to flushing a car radiator. You drink this concoction that winds its way through you, causing a war inside your large intestine, resulting in multiple trips to the porcelain god.

I always prepare well for this by having large stacks of reading material in the john at the ready.

So, please think good thoughts for me as I go off to be given the yearly seal of approval......and what I wouldn't give for a corned beef on rye about now........

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I assume you're talking about a colonoscopy.... All I can say is that if you think the procedure itself isn't bad, it must have changed a lot since I went through it in 1978. And the drugs must be a lot better now too, because what I remember about them is that they made me feel so groggy and disoriented that I wished I'd get hit by a truck.

but that's not as important as this: I hope you get a clean bill of health, and I hope you really enjoy the corned beef you'll get to have when it's all done.

p.s. The word I have to type to verify that I'm a real person is "snsot," which seems appropriate for a blog entry about intestinal stuff.

Mr. Nighttime said...

LOL,yes, the drugs are indeed much better. They're shorter acting, and clear out of the body much faster. The other drug in the cocktail is Versed, which actually has an amnesiac effect - you really don't remember a thing when it is all over.

I actually used to give Versed as a paramedic for certain procedures I would do.

Thanks for the good wishes, and I'll keep you posted about the sandwich, though quite frankly, after fasting for this long I think I will have to start out with just scrambled eggs....

Anonymous said...

While I must admit I do love drugs, I certainly dont' envy what you have to go thru to get them. UGH!! I will be thinking pleasant cleansing thoughts about you today. BTW, awesome taste in music...LRP is one of my favorite REM albums. Remember, you are, you are, you are Superman, and you can do anything!!! -HMA