me too! I had a precancerous polyp that they discovered 25 years ago and took out and haven’t had any more, but i get a colonoscopy every 5 years. Prep is horrible of course. Haven’t noticed too much effect on blood sugar but I’m more concerned about other things at that point.
I hope that medical technology will advance in the next several years so that there are other, less-invasive ways of checking intestinal health. But I think that if I hadn’t had that first colonoscopy back in 2000 I would not be writing this today. So I’m grateful for my doctor’s diligence.
Congrats on the A1C and all your health improvements.
I do not want to imply people shouldn’t get a colonoscopy. I had known people through my store that have died from colon cancer. We just have special pitfalls in approaching one than others do. And no matter how well I planned, sigh, various things went screwy. The procedure and being knocked out were super easy.
Good morning, loved your post! I am not going to get into to much. I get yearly endoscopy’s, I had Barrett’s esophagus in 2013, had 6 Halo surgeries. I get rechecks to look for return.
I also get yearly Colonoscopies since around 2012, I have an internal hernia and I am a polyp making machine, year before last my procedure lasted almost 4 hours, they stopped counting after 35 polyps removed, 7 were so large they had to put surgical clamps in place to close the wound, I want to say 5 were classified as dysplasia. And have 3 areas of diverticulitis also.
I have other gastrointestinal issues and last year had to reschedule first attempt due to not being cleaned out enough, net try they stretched out the prep to a week, and still wasn’t really good but she made due. I have them in May and June this year and a not looking forward to the colonoscopy prep this year.
But yea I really like being out. The very first colonoscopy I got was around 1983 and I woke up during surgery when he was removing polyps and was watching it on the tv, doc joked I was going to be literally blowing smoke out my ***, I wasn’t awake long before they knocked me out. Afterwards doc told my wife they gave me enough to knock out an elephant and I was still talking to him.
As much as I enjoyed the prep last time (NOT) there was one little complication for me the day of my last procedure. Believe it or not, Kaiser here in SoCal had given me written ‘instructions for diabetics’ that said “If on the morning of your procedure, your blood sugar is 100 or higher, take your usual dose of insulin.” I thought that was odd, but did as instructed (I was just over 100). Several hours later, I walk into the prep room, and someone noticed on my chart that I was a diabetic, so they decided to check my blood sugar. It was 20 and dropping. I was still sitting up and talking, but even I noticed the alarmed reaction that news got, and my procedure was delayed nearly an hour while they gave me an IV and monitored my sugar level. I mentioned this to my Endo next visit, and I’m told they have since revised the written instructions.
Fortunately, I apparently have a pretty high tolerance for low blood sugar, since I recall driving to work at 5 am many times after testing at 32 (after eating something sweet, of course). I’m glad to be on the OmniPod 5 now, and retired.
I was recently in the ER (unrelated to colonoscopes) and was fingerstuck every hour by a nurse once i showed them my pump and Dexcom. They brought me sandwiches, apple juice containers and Grahm Crackers. I felt safe an cared for and confident in my health team.
But then, i had to return to a different ER for an MRI (the first ER did not have the machine), and they seeemed to care less about me or my D. They did not come round even once to check my sugars. I requested a sandwich, juice and crackers and never got them. Totally incompetent.
Once, right before the anesthisiologist was about to put me out, i had to explain to him what my pump was and how it worked and that it could be removed easily from outside my tummy should i begin to go low during my surgery. He looked utterly confused.
You are very blessed. What great fortune An Aside: my first endo that i started with was a T1D and wore a pump. He was a complete idiot. He didnt even believe in Diabetic Neuropathy. The DP and FOTF amused him as if it were make believe. I stayed with him as long as i could take it (he did give out endless free smaples of insulin, though) , then once i joined FUD, my confidence grew and i left him ASAP and never regretted a minute of it.
As the late, great George Carlin astutely observed (in words or substance): It’s a mathematical imperative that some doctor out there is the absolute worst one there is, and some poor shnook has an appointment to see him tomorrow morning at 9 am.
An Aside: my first endo that i started with was a T1D and wore a pump. He was a complete idiot. He didnt even believe in Diabetic Neuropathy. The DP and FOTF amused him as if it were make believe. I stayed with him as long as i could take it (he did give out endless free smaples of insulin, though) , then once i joined FUD, my confidence grew and i left him ASAP and never regretted a minute of it.