Colonoscopy Over! And a bit about Lord Dunsany!

     The colonoscopy. Everything went fine. I didn't go to sleep this time either, but I was told that my gastroenterologist likes to use light sedation so that the patient isn't totally a zombie afterwards and doesn't have to spend a long time in recovery. He just wants to make sure that the patient is comfortable, even if he/she is awake. He used 8 mgm of Versed which is what I had the other time, but he used quite a lot of Fentenyl as the pain reliever. I still had more cramps this time than before. There were a couple of times that I thought I would have to say something to the attendants, but I made it through, and he got into the cecum, so we don't have to do this again for 10 years. No polyps were found. Yea! As for next ime, well a lot can happen in 10 years. Maybe medical science will advance and we'll have something like the StarTrek wand to assess people. I have been waiting for that wand my whole adult life, first as a provider of medical care and now as a consumer of medical care. Dr. McCoy never had to get his hands dirty no matter what the injury or illness. Then again in 10 years, maybe I will not be here, who knows?

     I am reading a book, no a tome, entitled Greetings Carbon Based Bipeds: Collected Essays 1934-1998 by none other than Arthur C. Clarke, prolific visionary and my favorite Sci Fi Writer. His first essay in this book introduced me to a writer that I had never heard of before; Edward John Moreton Drax Plunkett (1878-1957). He is otherwise known as Lord Dunsany as he is indeed a Lord, of the inherited Irish property, Dunsany and other properties. He had quite a full life in many other ways, but was a prolific writer of fantasy, essays, poetry, plays, and science fiction. He is noted for his remarkable way with words. His fantasy would influence such better known later writers as C. S. Lewis and J. R. Tolkien. You can read more about him and some others of his works at the following links: www.dunsany.net/18th.htm  and  http://pweb.jps.net/~sangreal/ld.htm. Other copies of his works are on the Internet at various other sites that you can glean from the above two web addresses.

     Being the frustrated writer that I am and my attempts to forward that writing ability in this blog, makes me read what others have written about writing and take it to heart. Two quotes from Arthur C. Clarke's first essay struck me. They apply to writing but they also apply to life in general and our aspirations before we die. Both were written by Lord Dunsany. You can certainly see his way with words.

     Of all materials for labor, dreams are the hardest; and the artificer in ideas is the chief of workers, who out of nothing will make a piece work that will stop a child from crying or lead nations  to higher things. For what is it to be a poet? It is to see at a glance the glory  of the World, to see beauty in all its forms and manifestations, to feel ugliness like a pain, to resent the wrongs of others as bitterly as one's own, to know mankind as others know single men, to know Nature as botanists know a flower, to be thought a fool, to hear at moments the clear voice of God.

     I spoke above briefly about the end of life. One doesn't know if one will be here 10 years from now to schedule another preventative colonoscopy or even if I will be here tomorrow to go to my water aerobics class. The following poem from Lord Dunsany was written about writing as a pursuit. But I heard the words with respect to life in general. It is a short but sweet admonition to Carpe Diem.

     So much, there is to catch,
     And the years so short,
     That there is scarce time to snatch
     Pen, palette, or aught,
     And to seize some shape we can see,
     That others may keep
     Its moment of mystery,
     Then go to our sleep.

    

Colonoscopy! What Fun!

     Well, tomorrow I have a colonoscopy scheduled for Monday, March 7. Have any of you had one or more of those? This is my second one. My first was done 5 years ago just for colon cancer screening purposes. I was prepared for the preparation as they say. No eating and lots of laxatives to clean that colon out. Most of my patients had a great deal of trouble drinking down the gallon of ethylene glycol that flushed the colon out. If you have had one of these before, you know that you need to start this about 4 in the afternoon the day before your test, drinking this gallon down in 8 ounce glasses every 10 to 15 minute. And as you can imagine this stuff is not the greatest tasting stuff in the world. Some people would get very nauseous when drinking this stuff. My gastroenterologist uses a slightly different prep which may be slightly easier. He precribes 4 Dulcolax laxative tablets by mouth at 11 AM the day before. These start to work later in the day simultaneously with the ethylene glycol. Therefore he uses only 1/2 gallon of that solution. For most people anything that can reduce the amount of that fluid that you have to take is better. From about 5 PM on that night before the subject (my patients in the past, me this time) will basicly be in the toilet. There is usually not pain with this preparation but there is certainly lots of rumbling and going on in that belly. Usually it is over by bedtime though. Then you get up bright and early and go have the test.
     The first time I had this test 5 years ago, I did not respond to the sedative. In addition to Demorol for pain, they use a drug called Versed to sedate the patient. Though it allows the person to follow minor commands during the procedure, the person usually does not remember the procedure afterwards. It is called conscious sedation: you have amnesia and are not "awake" to what is happening almost immediately after the injection until you arrive in the recovery area. Then you feel fine and once it is certain that your stomach is OK and you are fully awake, you are allowed to go home where you might be kind of drowsy the rest of the day. You do need someone to drive you home in case your reactions are slowed by these drugs. That is what is supposed to happen. However, in my case last time, I never "went to sleep." I remained conscious, fully aware, and remembered the whole procedure. I even watched the action on the monitor screen. My procedure also took quite a while because the gastroenterologist was having trouble getting the scope into the right end of the colon, the cecum. He tried every method he knew, taking the scope back a long ways and trying to get it to enter the cecum several times, pushing on my belly to try to advance it from the outside of the body, turning me over even on to my stomach, etc. Nothing worked; he never could get into the cecum. He said he could see it but couldn't enter it to be sure he was seeing everything he should. This is why I am having the procedure again after only 5 years. So I am hoping that the same thing doesn't happen again. That is I hope he can get into the cecum and that it doesn't take such a long time to do the test. And I hope that the Versed works for me this time. I received the same drug when I went for my melanoma surgery, administered in the day surgery prep room and I was out before they even wheeled the gurney out of the area. So we will see.
Wish me luck.