Thread: Taking care of health business

Yesterday I had the exam I had been dreading for so long--a colonoscopy. And I am here to tell you gals that I am glad I did it and that there is nothing to fear. I know a lot of folks do like I did and put it off despite urging from their doctors. For the past two years I have been setting up appointment for the thing and then chickening out. So the doc asked if I would do it if the appt was on April Fool's Day. I said yes and there you are.

The reason I am now glad that I did this is that they did find polyps which were promptly removed. Now I have to get another colonoscopy in 1-2 years depending on how the lab reports turn out. But I lived through it and I know now that I can do this again.

For the rest of you scardy cats out there the prep is the worst part, but not much more than a 24 hour juice fast and some laxatives. Today I actually feel like I am powered up for a new eating start with clean foods.

So, if you were like me and putting this off, no fears! I actually woke up during the procedure and watched the rest of it on the monitor with the doctors explaining what he was doing.

Off the soapbox now. . .

Souzan

Souzon, I'm glad you did this and glad it went well & glad you had your polyps removed!

I know this is an important test and people have enough fears about it, but I feel compelled to add my experience whenever this comes up. My father died of a ruptured colon a few days after his colonoscopy. I have since spoken with quite a few people who became widows (or widowers) due to the same cause. And I recently had a conversation about this with an ICU nurse who told me "Oh, yeah, we have a whole wing of those people [ruptured colons from colonoscopies] at the hospital."

Because of my personal experience with this, I will probably only get the test done if I have symptoms that warrant it. But my advice to others is have the test if your doctor recommends it, but ask LOTS of questions first about the person who'll be performing it. How many have they done? Has anyone had a ruptured colon afterward? Have any of their tests resulted in death?

Originally Posted by Lauren_

My father died of a ruptured colon a few days after his colonoscopy. I have since spoken with quite a few people who became widows (or widowers) due to the same cause. And I recently had a conversation about this with an ICU nurse who told me "Oh, yeah, we have a whole wing of those people [ruptured colons from colonoscopies] at the hospital."

But my advice to others is have the test if your doctor recommends it, but ask LOTS of questions first about the person who'll be performing it. How many have they done? Has anyone had a ruptured colon afterward? Have any of their tests resulted in death?

Lauren, how sad for your family! It's always bad to lose a family member, but even worse when the cause was an elective medical procedure because you go into it trusting that the people doing the work know what they're doing!

Your warning brings to mind another consideration - the facility you choose. If you have the procedure done at a teaching hospital (ie, a hospital affiliated with a medical school) there's a strong likelihood your procedure will be done by an intern/resident rather than by a long-time doctor with lots of expertise. And therefore the risk of something going wrong is higher. My in-laws, who are both retired medical school professors, once commented that every year there is a spike in the death rate at the hospital which is directly linked to the influx of new residents, their inexperience at dealing with unexpected complications, and their mistakes.

There was a recent study released showing that a "virtual colonoscopy" is every bit as effective as a traditional one. In a "virtual colonoscopy", the patient has an MRI done instead of the invasive insertion, and the results of the MRI are read by someone with the appropriate knowledge of what to look for. I don't know what the risks of an MRI are, but they sound less worrisome to me than a traditional colonoscopy.

Souzan, I'm glad to hear that your condition was discovered in time to take appropriate preventive action!

Hi, All!

All good information here. Shira, my husband has MS, and as such has had a few MRIs; but we found out that the amount of radiation from an MRI is hundreds of times what you get from a regular x-ray, so he's backed off the schedule significantly (like, one every five years rather than one every six months). One can't see immediate side-effects of the radiation, but it does add up, and MRIs really should be used as a last resort. A colonoscopy performed by an experienced physician with up-to-date equipment is probably a LOT less dangerous than an MRI, in terms of damage done.

FWIW, one of my students is a nurse who assists at colonoscopies; her opinion is that if one checks the doctor out thoroughly, it is a very safe procedure, and she's never seen one go bad in seven years at her practice.

My parents just went for their first colonoscopies last year, after my mom's friend went for a routine colonoscopy and found out she had colon cancer, but it was too late to save her. Had she gone sooner, they could have caught it in time.

So, while I understand the procedure is risky, you need to research your doctors and be as safe as you can. There is risk in every medical procedure, unfortunately, but I'm sure if you look at the number of people who find out they have colon cancer early enough to do something about it because they had a routine colonoscopy, versus the number of people who die from colonoscopies, the benefit would outweight the risk.

But still, it's a personal choice.

Lauren, I am really sorry to hear about your father. You try to trust your doctors and do what they suggest but sometimes it isn't the right thing. That is one of the things that was holdig me back--fear of complications. And if were in your shoes I would probably not be getting one either.

Unfortunatley the virtual colonoscopy was not an option for me on my insurance plan. The doctor who did mine is with a dedicated endoscopy clinic that has a really good record. I had the option of doing it at a hospital but opted to go the clinic route after seeing how well my husband was treated when he had his colonoscopy done there.

One of the interesting things about waking up and watching the polyps being removed was that the doctor explained about how thin the walls of the colon are and how they prefer not to cauterize the areas they remove polyps from to avoid rupture. So now hearing what Lauren said about her father, I feel I was in good hands.

Both of my parents passed away in their fifties and so I will never know if they had polyps or not. But my paternal grandmother died of "intestinal cancer" which was all that was ever told to us kids. She was in her fifties and I was quite young when that happened. So I have suspect that it could have been colon cancer.

The doctor called me last night and one of the nurses called me this morning to make sure I was doing okay. Other than starving and feeling a little sore I'm okay.

Take care.

Souzan

My grandfather has colon cancer so my mom made sure to schedule her first colonoscopy early on. She informed me that drinking that stuff is the worst part of the whole thing. My boss and another guy in my office both chickened out this year after drinking all of that stuff, they didn't want to go in. I thought, how silly that they almost made it and there's not much to worry about. It's so important to get checked out

Originally Posted by maiaraqs

Hi, All!

All good information here. Shira, my husband has MS, and as such has had a few MRIs; but we found out that the amount of radiation from an MRI is hundreds of times what you get from a regular x-ray, so he's backed off the schedule significantly (like, one every five years rather than one every six months). One can't see immediate side-effects of the radiation, but it does add up, and MRIs really should be used as a last resort. A colonoscopy performed by an experienced physician with up-to-date equipment is probably a LOT less dangerous than an MRI, in terms of damage done.

It is my understanding that an MRI does not have radiation. The procedure uses magnets to get the image. CT Scans are the test that has all the radiation. I have done lots of reading about CT Scans since I have had 5 and my radiation load is higher than a Hiroshima survivor. I will no longer get CT Scans unless it is a life or death situation. I would request an ultrasound or MRI.

Originally Posted by stardancer

It is my understanding that an MRI does not have radiation. The procedure uses magnets to get the image. CT Scans are the test that has all the radiation. I have done lots of reading about CT Scans since I have had 5 and my radiation load is higher than a Hiroshima survivor. I will no longer get CT Scans unless it is a life or death situation. I would request an ultrasound or MRI.

You are correct, stardancer. MRI's use really large magnets to line up the ions (H+) in the water molecules in our body (MRI= Magnetic Resonance Imaging). No radiation used at all.

The thing about the colonoscopy is that if they do find polyps they can snip or laser them right there. No need for a second procedure. An MRI is just not the same as being able to send the camera right in there.

Oy!! I probably should go have one. Colon cancer runs in my family. Grandfather, father, aunt, and brother... I haven't had one done since my senior year of high school (17 yrs ago). I'm really a big chicken, because I remember hating what I had to go through beforehand. Sorry if this question is TMI, but do you still have to have an enema beforehand?

Originally Posted by gwyncara

Oy!! I probably should go have one. Colon cancer runs in my family. Grandfather, father, aunt, and brother... I haven't had one done since my senior year of high school (17 yrs ago). I'm really a big chicken, because I remember hating what I had to go through beforehand. Sorry if this question is TMI, but do you still have to have an enema beforehand?

No enema. You start a liquid diet 24 hours before and take laxative cocktails at specified times prior to the procedure. Mine was in the afternoon and I was able to consume liquids untile about 5 hours pre-procedure. Lilquids were chicken broth, popsicles (Edy has some fab all fruit juice popsicles), jello, fruit juices, Gator Aid, tea and black coffee. I stayed home from work, did some housework, worked in my garden, read, watched videos during the 24 hour prep. Just needed to be near a bathroom but didn't have to camp out in there! Hope that wasn't too much info. Really not that bad.

Souzan

Enema depends on the Dr. My Dr made me do one. I had my colonoscopy last year due to a strong fam history. 3 people on my mother's side died from it and all my relatives have had polyps by the age of 50. I was polyp free and don't have to go back for 10 years! Yay! :o)