Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Don't be nervous.....

On Friday I am having a colonoscopy. I am very, very nervous about the whole thing.

For those who didn't know, I had several surgeries when I was a child.   The M.O. of the hospital staff back then was pretty much just grab the kid and do what you wanted. No explanations. No parents around to sooth a frightened child.  

I'm a big girl now, but I have never gotten over the feelings of fear when I am around hospitals and/or medical personnel (which is ironic considering I was a critical care respiratory therapist for 13 years!).  I no longer scream when I get blood drawn, but if there's a way to get out of a medical procedure, I'll find it!

Unfortunately some things you just gotta do. The annual pap smear and mammogram, and, now that I am 50 (OMG! How did THAT happen?) I need to add colonoscopy to my regularly scheduled procedures.

I am told that the worst part is the emmm...cleansing that occurs the day before.  I have canceled all my plans for tomorrow and loaded up on T.P., ginger ale, and library books.  At least, after the meds do their thing, at least for the day, no one can tell me I'm full of Sh##.

Colon cancer is the #2 cause of Cancer related  deaths. If caught early, it's is almost always curable.  To learn more about colon cancer check out this site: http://www.humc.com/coloncenter/fact.shtml
Then, be brave, like me, and go schedule your your colonoscopy. Even it it is a pain in the butt.

5 comments:

Diane said...

So do tell us more when it's over. Is the worst part, as they say, the preparation for it?

Hope your results are all good.

Unknown said...

been there..done that...free for a few more years..jump for joy you are done for a ..what? 10 yrs.?

Terri said...

It wasn't horrible. The worst part for me was the pre-procedure jitters. The worst thing physically was having to drink all that nasty stuff to "clean out my system".

I won't be so scared next time.

Diane said...

Thank you for letting me know how it went. I'm hoping all went well for you and the rsults were good.

Michelle said...

Good for you for being proactive and getting this test done! I'm definitely not looking forward to that when the time comes (ok who is?!) especially the day before 'fun' stuff! But I know I'm going to have to get over that and get it done. Praying for good test results!