In what has very quickly become a normal part of my life, the dreaded letter arrived with details of the third attempt at a colonoscopy. Sunday 15 December at 8am at the QE in Woolwich. I had been given the MoviPrep ready when I left the hospital last time so at least I didn’t have to worry about that.
I received the letter just over a week before the date of the procedure which was useful because I had to spend a week on a low fibre diet of just white bread, white pasta, boiled chicken, eggs, cheese and butter. No fruit and veg. Now what say what now? No fruit and veg for a week? I could have ice cream though and Rich Tea biscuits! Go figure. I decided not to try to understand those two particular aspects and just accept what I could and couldn’t eat.
Initially, you’d think that would be a doddle, just eating the low fibre for a week. Erm, that would be a no and certainly not at this time of the year. It coincided with a week where I was due to actually have to leave the house and have a Christmas lunch with two very good chums. Aside from the hospital appointments, I have barely left the house in weeks and this Christmas lunch had been arranged before the attempts at a colonoscopy began. I was adamant that I was going to make it out of the house for this lunch.
As the Christmas lunch was booked in for the Wednesday of the week in the run up to the colonoscopy, I decided that I would have the low fibre diet for the entirety of the week but, that particular day, I was having the Christmas lunch. I was going for the works and damned be to my stomach and bowel! It was the day before I started having to take the Senokot as the extended preparation and I figured that if my body couldn’t get a Christmas dinner out of my system in four days, then I was in far more trouble than I’d ever thought I was before! I think it’s safe to say that I made the most of that Christmas lunch and the time I spent with two very good chums.
I followed the low fibre diet and the extended preparation, taking the Senokot (without success) and it came to the day before the colonoscopy and I had to start on the MoviPrep again.
As I knew I was going to be fully sedated this time and that the appointment was at 8am on the Sunday morning, Mum came down to stay with me on the Saturday night and, potentially, the Sunday night as well as I had to have someone with me after the sedation. Mum travelled down late Saturday afternoon/Saturday evening after she had made sure that Dad was okay to be left.
According to the paperwork, I could eat a light lunch but I decided not to have anything after breakfast to give myself (and the MoviPrep) a real fighting chance of being fully prepared for this one. It just had to be third time lucky! So, after breakfast at about 9.15am, there was no more food and only clear drinks, which meant black coffee, water, orange juice (and don’t forget I couldn’t have bits) or clear soup. Now, those of you who know me well know that clear soup is just not an option in my house. Well, quite frankly, any soup is just not an option. I hate the smell of it, I hate the look of it, the texture. Just not happening. Therefore, that left me with plain fluids. Whilst I was still full from breakfast and not looking to snack, I made a casserole ready for Mum and I to have when we got back from the hospital on Sunday. It was still really hard not to pick at the carrots I was chopping or the mushrooms I was washing though. It was even harder when the absolutely delicious smell from the oven as the casserole was cooking emanated throughout the whole house! Maybe that wasn’t my smartest decision but at least it meant I didn’t have to prepare anything when we got back from the hospital as the paperwork had said I was under instructions not to do any driving, cooking, signing legal documents or looking after children after the sedation.
I spent the entire day clock watching to when I had to start the MoviPrep again. The paperwork this time said that I had to have a clear two hour break between the two preparations so I decided to start at 4.30pm.
I have to say that on each of the three occasions that I’ve had to take the MoviPrep, my experience with it (and with the subsequent colonoscopy) has been different. I got the first litre of MoviPrep down me with the assistance of two litres of orange juice in an hour. It was tough going but it was done. I knew then that I didn’t have to start the second litre until 7.30pm. I wasn’t expecting anything to happen but, just before I started making the second litre, my stomach started gurgling. This was new. This was different. Would I finally make some progress? I was making my way through the second litre when Mum arrived and I literally had time to give her a hug and make her a cup of tea before I decamped to the bathroom. I was genuinely quite excited! I finished the second litre of MoviPrep and in between trying to catch up with Mum and watch the final of Strictly Come Dancing, I was running to the bathroom. It wasn’t the “loads” that the paperwork had suggested but it was certainly considerably more than I had experienced before. This was certainly encouraging. I managed about 4 hours of sleep that night and was back on the toilet at 5am on the Sunday morning. This was even more encouraging.
Mum and I left for the hospital at 7.15am and we were second in the queue when we arrived at Reception for the Day Care Unit. I was the most hopeful that I had ever been about the success of the preparation but, given the two other failed attempts, I wasn’t exactly swinging of the chandeliers that this was going to be a roaring success!
I went for the pre-procedure preparation. Donning the still not very fetching hospital gown and dignity pants, I met with the chap who would be doing the procedure that morning. His name was Alec and he was quite a chatty and engaging chap. The canular was fitted so that I could have the sedation and after a bit of faffing with that trying to find a vein, I was walked into the procedure room and assumed the position!
I was given Fentanyl, which is stronger than morphine, and Midazolam as a relaxant and we began again. Another 30 minutes on the table. Two nurses pushing down on my stomach trying to open up the right side of the colon. Apparently, it loops around a bit like a roller coaster(!) and doesn’t like being opened up by blowing air into it. Well, after 30 minutes, we had achieved success and, guess what, there’s nothing sinister there at all. I’ll be honest there was some swearing throughout as, even though I’d had the sedative, it was bloody uncomfortable and I could feel it especially when you’ve got two people pushing down on your stomach.
I was wheeled back into recovery. I didn’t feel as if I’d had any sort of sedative at all. Other ladies around me in recovery were absolutely out for the count and I was sitting up, having a cup of coffee and a sandwich chatting with the nurses and chatting with the nurses who remembered me from the second attempt! I was only in recovery for about 30 minutes which was the time it took for the report to be typed up and for me to be given a copy and be escorted back to my Mum in the waiting area.
The good news is that I don’t have to have another attempt at this and if I don’t see another box of MoviPrep in my lifetime, it will be too soon!! Mum and I left the hospital and I drove home. I know I wasn’t supposed to but I did not feel that I had any sort of sedative at all. I just wanted to get home. Mum and I had lunch and then Mum went off home to check on Dad. I was pottering about in the afternoon and then at about 5pm on Sunday, it hit me like a tonne of lead. I was literally just sitting on the sofa watching the darts and the next thing I remember it was 3:30am Monday morning! The lights were still on, the heating was still on and the cat was just staring at me wondering if I would ever wake up to feed her!
From 3.30am on that Monday morning, everything was pretty much back to normal. My stomach still gurgled a bit throughout the day but life carried on. I don’t know what happens next. I don’t know if I will have to go back and see the consultant or if he will just arrange the next stage of testing on my liver and pancreas. All I do know is that, right now, there’s no point chasing anything this side of Christmas and I’ll start again in the New Year. It’s another organ ticked off the list and I have to keep telling myself that it’s one step closer to the solution! For now, at least I know I can eat chocolate over Christmas without fear of having to take that damned MoviPrep again.
Living The BPD Life 