No one ever wants to talk about it. The mere uttering of the word causes cringing, often accompanied by nervous giggling. Yes, we are going to discuss: colonoscopy.
According to the American Cancer Society:
“Overall, the lifetime risk of developing colorectal cancer is: about 1 in 22 (4.49%) for men and 1 in 24 (4.15%) for women.”
Those statistics don’t sound like something to get terribly upset about, do they? But if you have a disease that puts you at risk for colon cancer, they become dramatically more meaningful. One of those diseases is ulcerative colitis – and for those on long-term Remicade treatment, the risk is even higher.
That’s why my primary physician and my GI specialist both recently urged me to undergo a repeat colonoscopy. It was my fourth colonoscopy, which I believe makes me a bit of an expert on what to expect.
Tomorrow, I will begin boring you with my most recent colonoscopy experience. I will publish that story in two parts – the first dealing with the infamous prep prior to the test, and the second covering the test itself and the recovery afterwards.
I apologize to those readers who are a little squeamish – I am not going to sugar-coat anything. The two-part post will be a bit long, but I do promise that there will be a fair amount of humor which you won’t want to miss.
If you are facing a colonoscopy, or have already had one, or are just curious about what’s involved, please join me starting tomorrow for: “Are we having fun yet?”
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I love to hear from my readers. You may comment on this post, comment on my Facebook or Twitter pages, or email me at cordeliasmom2012@yahoo.com
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Image by Cordelia’s Mom
Cordelia's Mom, Still 
Yea! toilet humour. I have had three colonoscopy and two sigmoidoscopy ..Na! Na,! You can’t frighten me !! kidding aside a very sensible and serious subject.💜💜💜
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Thanks, Willow. You will especially appreciate the two-part post! I’ll be interested in learning if your experiences across the sea were similar.
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What a coincidence, I have my next one scheduled next month. My dr. tells me that the drink this time tastes good. He said he has tried it. I wonder. It has to be better than the two gallons of *!!* I had to drink 5 years ago. The test itself is nothing, it is the prep as you can attest to. In fact, I always like the nap I get.
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If they have you on the Miramax/Gatorade mixture, you’ll be pleased with the drink. Get orange Gatorade, and the mixture will taste like a Creamsicle. (See tomorrow’s post.)
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Good for you for talking about this!
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Thanks. Someone needs to. Be sure to check out the next two posts.
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Looking forward to your cOloNOscopy posts, CM. (n˘v˘•)¬
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Thanks, NBC. You won’t be disappointed.
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Thinking of you and will tune in.
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Thanks. Part I is up. You may have already seen it.
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Waiting for the follow up………. 🙂
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Thanks. It’s there now.
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🙂 Read and commented. Working backwards through my comments list at the moment!
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Pingback: WHAT IS A COLONOSCOPY REALLY LIKE? — The Infamous Prep | Cordelia's Mom, Still
I think it is important information and you are acting as a advocate and advisor for those who need the support and help. Wait until you see what I am writing about advocating for,
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Going over to your site now.
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You are so right…colonoscopies save lives!! Hubs had a routine one (his 3rd) about 8 months ago, and it caught the very early beginnings of colon cancer – only a few cells in polyp. He had the area around the polyp cut out and the margins were clear. He’s very, very fortunate!!
I’m headed to my 4th next year because I too have UC, but a very mild case. I wrote a post back in 2014 (pre UC) about colonoscopies that I went back and read a few minutes ago. It’s pretty funny in an AGMA sort of way. You and Hub’s experience has inspired me to repost in a week or so to help raise awareness of the importance of having regular colonoscopies…. Stay tuned!
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Please do re-post. People are still afraid of colonoscopies and putting them off for way too long. Perhaps reading stories like ours will get them to schedule.
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Thanks for this series, CM!
I have my *first ever* scheduled for next week – and am reading your followup posts now!
Blessings! Karen J
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Good for you, Karen. It won’t be too bad, I promise.
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