• Advertisement

Colonoscopy

Looking for advise on hospitals, dentists and other health issues? Ask here.

Re: Colonoscopy

Postby jackspratt » August 15, 2009, 7:59 pm

A different perspective from Dave Barry. :D :D

Colonoscopy Journal:

I called my friend Andy Sable, a gastroenterologist, to make an appointment for a colonoscopy.

A few days later, in his office, Andy showed me a colour diagram of the colon, a lengthy organ that appears to go all over the place, at one point passing briefly through Minneapolis.

Then Andy explained the colonoscopy procedure to me in a thorough, reassuring and patient manner.

I nodded thoughtfully, but I didn't really hear anything he said, because my brain was shrieking, 'HE'S GOING TO STICK A TUBE 17,000 FEET UP YOUR BEHIND!'

I left Andy's office with some written instructions, and a prescription for a product called 'MoviPrep,' which comes in a box large enough to hold a microwave oven. I will discuss MoviPrep in detail later; for now suffice it to say that we must never allow it to fall into the hands of America's enemies.

I spent the next several days productively sitting around being nervous.

Then, on the day before my colonoscopy, I began my preparation. In accordance with my instructions, I didn't eat any solid food that day; all I had was chicken broth, which is basically water, only with less flavor.

Then, in the evening, I took the MoviPrep. You mix two packets of powder together in a one-litre plastic jug, then you fill it with lukewarm water. (For those unfamiliar with the metric system, a litre is about 32 gallons). Then you have to drink the whole jug. This takes about an hour, because MoviPrep tastes - and here I am being kind - like a mixture of goat spit and urinal cleanser, with just a hint of lemon.

The instructions for MoviPrep, clearly written by somebody with a great sense of humor, state that after you drink it, 'a loose, watery bowel movement may result.'

This is kind of like saying that after you jump off your roof, you may experience contact with the ground.

MoviPrep is a nuclear laxative. I don't want to be too graphic, here, but, have you ever seen a space-shuttle launch? This is pretty much the MoviPrep experience, with you as the shuttle. There are times when you wish the commode had a seat belt. You spend several hours pretty much confined to the bathroom, spurting violently. You eliminate everything. And then, when you figure you must be totally empty, you have to drink another litre of MoviPrep, at which point, as far as I can tell, your bowels travel into the future and start eliminating food that you have not even eaten yet.

After an action-packed evening, I finally got to sleep.

The next morning my wife drove me to the clinic. I was very nervous. Not only was I worried about the procedure, but I had been experiencing occasional return bouts of MoviPrep spurtage. I was thinking, 'What if I spurt on Andy?' How do you apologize to a friend for something like that? Flowers would not be enough.

At the clinic I had to sign many forms acknowledging that I understood and totally agreed with whatever the heck the forms said. Then they led me to a room full of other colonoscopy people, where I went inside a little curtained space and took off my clothes and put on one of those hospital garments designed by sadist perverts, the kind that, when you put it on, makes you feel even more naked than when you are actually naked..

Then a nurse named Eddie put a little needle in a vein in my left hand. Ordinarily I would have fainted, but Eddie was very good, and I was already lying down. Eddie also told me that some people put vodka in their MoviPrep.
At first I was ticked off that I hadn't thought of this, but then I pondered what would happen if you got yourself too tipsy to make it to the bathroom, so you were staggering around in full Fire Hose Mode. You would have no choice but to burn your house.

When everything was ready, Eddie wheeled me into the procedure room, where Andy was waiting with a nurse and an anesthesiologist. I did not see the 17,000-foot tube, but I knew Andy had it hidden around there somewhere. I was seriously nervous at this point.

Andy had me roll over on my left side, and the anesthesiologist began hooking something up to the needle in my hand.

There was music playing in the room, and I realized that the song was 'Dancing Queen' by ABBA. I remarked to Andy that, of all the songs that could be playing during this particular procedure, 'Dancing Queen' had to be the least appropriate.

'You want me to turn it up?' said Andy, from somewhere behind me.

'Ha ha,' I said. And then it was time, the moment I had been dreading for more than a decade. If you are squeamish, prepare yourself, because I am going to tell you, in explicit detail, exactly what it was like.

I have no idea. Really. I slept through it. One moment, ABBA was yelling 'Dancing Queen, feel the beat of the tambourine,' and the next moment, I was back in the other room, waking up in a very mellow mood.

Andy was looking down at me and asking me how I felt. I felt excellent. I felt even more excellent when Andy told me that It was all over, and that my colon had passed with flying colors. I have never been prouder of an internal organ.

On the subject of Colonoscopies...
Colonoscopies are no joke, but these comments during the exam were quite humorous..... A physician claimed that the following are actual comments made by his patients (predominately male) while he was performing their colonoscopies:

1. 'Take it easy, Doc. You're boldly going where no man has gone before!'

2. 'Find Amelia Earhart yet?'

3. 'Can you hear me NOW?'

4. 'Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet?'

5. 'You know, in Arkansas , we're now legally married.'

6. 'Any sign of the trapped miners, Chief?'

7. 'You put your left hand in, you take your left hand out...'

8. 'Hey! Now I know how a Muppet feels!'

9. 'If your hand doesn't fit, you must quit!'

10. 'Hey Doc, let me know if you find my dignity.'

11. 'You used to be an executive at Enron, didn't you?'

And the best one of all:
12. 'Could you write a note for my wife saying that my head is not up there?'
User avatar
jackspratt
UM Guru
UM Guru
 
Posts: 2913
Joined: July 2, 2006, 5:29 pm
Location: Ban Dung

Re: Colonoscopy

Postby panick » August 15, 2009, 8:04 pm

Aaaaaah! Colonoscopy ... such sweet memories :?
Had a few Stomach problems when in college and ended up having to have this :roll: 5 litres or Epsom's salts to clear the bowel prior to having the camera shoved up your ass ... and yes it was vanilla flavour... tasted like sh#t so added some lemon squash to sweeten it up whilst sitting on the toilet and waited for the 5 minute "piss out of your ass" syndrome, BAD MISTAKE! the lemon squash made my ass sting worse than a bar girls pussy after pulling 6 trains at the least!
OK I've got an intolerance to anaesthetic ( 30 ops as a kid, 2 ops per year for 15yrs ) so here we go .... shot of valium ... count to 10 please.... didn't work! :lol: next shot ..... Naw still ai'nt working ..... :roll: ... next shot, oops you fuc#ed that one up! only got half of it in ... OK try again ... OK it hit the spot now cos I've just got a cold rush up the back of my neck!... WOW .... I was asleep for all of 10mins! ... work up, sat up, and said " look at all those ulcers!" and went back to sleep!
The Doctor could not tell me if I had Crohn's disease or Collitis, both hereditary ( Damn my G/Mother! Ha Ha! ) but told me I could NEVER eat spicey/hot food again for the rest of my life!
So here I am, 28yrs after the first diagnosis eating Thai food every day and no complaints!
Personally ... I think too many illnesses are psychosomatic these days and bring on problems that you don't always have! 8)
User avatar
panick
Member
Member
 
Posts: 969
Joined: February 9, 2006, 1:53 pm
Location: 7 kms out!

Re: Colonoscopy

Postby jimboLV » August 15, 2009, 10:52 pm

We guys have it lucky nowadays with the TV camera colonoscopies. I got my first one long ago before the minicams, and it consisted of a stainless tube about ¾ inch in diameter and two feet long ( which I am sure that the doc switched out with a 4 inch diam unit when I wasn’t looking?.) The idea was he shoved it in, shined a light down it and allegedly was able to evaluate your colon condition. Not a pleasant experience although I was sedated at the time.

My latest a couple years ago was with the newfangled minicam. No particular problems but the doc said I should have one because of my age. Also I suspect that business was slow at the clinic where they did these routines, and I found out later my Doc was a partner in the clinic, and anyway Medicare covered it. Anyway I go through the Fleet Enema routine the night before that Dave Barry so elegantly described, and it is everything he said it was. I swear I emptied everything out coming even from my toes. Next I’m on the table. Being of a scientific mind I had asked that I be awake so that I could watch as they traversed my inner regions. So he just gave me a sedative to relax me but I was fully awake, though groggy.

So I’m lying there watching the screen and they are ready to go. It was like watching a homemade porn movie made with a hand held camera. The camera is swinging around the room with occasional glimpses of a naked butt. Then it homes in and gets closer and closer. Then all of a sudden the 27-inch screen is filled with a close-up image of my big hairy arsehole in living color for all to see including the doc and the two young female assistants. Then the trip begins as the cam wends its way through my entire colon, which, thanks to the Fleet enema is clean as a whistle. And the whole thing is being videotaped. I can just imagine the Doc at his New Years Eve party, “hey wanna see a great video of this guys butthole?” But I guess I’m just paranoid. He wouldn’t do that….would he? Anyway, after the whole ordeal I have a consultation with him and he reassures me that there are no problems. Just some “minor inflammation” but that’s normal and nothing to be concerned about. MINOR INFLAMMATION!!! Ever since I have wondered if my insides are slowly rotting away.

I’m probably sensitive to this issue because of an incident that happened in my youth. I was a college student and was an intern at a sewage treatment plant in the nether regions of the Philadelphia area, far from my home. I had to take a trolley car and two buses to get to work every morning. On the last leg of the trip I got off one bus only to see the connecting bus waiting across the street. I and an older gentleman ran to the bus shouting to hold for us. Just as we reached it, the driver slammed the door shut in our faces and sped away, leaving us to wait another twenty minutes for the next one. It was a cold, rainy day. After I shouted a string of expletives against the driver and his parentage, the old guy just shook his head and said “I hope his asshole festers”. That summed it all up. Probably the most perfect expletive I have ever heard and I’ve never forgotten it. I even used it as the parting words as my ex wife exited the house with the last of her belongings. Probably the worst thing that could happen to a human being, and that’s why it’s a good idea to occasionally suffer the indignity of a colonoscopy.
jimboLV
Member
Member
 
Posts: 325
Joined: May 3, 2009, 12:31 pm
Location: Udonthani

Re: Colonoscopy

Postby Prenders88 » August 16, 2009, 3:26 am

Have you made a submission to Youtube?
User avatar
Prenders88
Member
Member
 
Posts: 1841
Joined: July 7, 2005, 12:51 am
Location: St Austell, Kernow/Lake Garden City, Udon

Re: Colonoscopy

Postby cali4995 » August 16, 2009, 9:16 am

i've already been abducted by aliens and probed and generally abused this colonoscopy
thing might cause dangerous flashbacks. and...after reading jimbolv's report...too late. :lol:
User avatar
cali4995
Member
Member
 
Posts: 829
Joined: June 14, 2006, 11:19 pm
Location: I'm lost, no denying it.

Re: Colonoscopy

Postby jackspratt » August 16, 2009, 10:12 am

First you had Dave Barry - now I give you Billy Connolly :D

User avatar
jackspratt
UM Guru
UM Guru
 
Posts: 2913
Joined: July 2, 2006, 5:29 pm
Location: Ban Dung

Re: Colonoscopy

Postby KHONDAHM » June 5, 2011, 6:58 am

Oh the horror! I had the worst experience at Aek yesterday which ended up with me walking out. Not the first poor experience, either.

Scheduled an appointment Tuesday. The hold up being the staff getting pre-authorization from BUPA for costs at my insistence. A few years back, did the same before wife's surgery and they tried to stick me with a THB 35k bill because they dropped the ball. So, again this time they confirmed BUPA would pick up the tab; but when I showed up, it was a complete mess. Where should I begin?

1. Now they said BUPA would only pay THB 10k of the THB 50k++ bill, leaving me having to fork out THB 40k++(!). What a rip! I have the Diamond BUPA coverage with OPD and there is no way I should be paying anything out of pocket.

2. They had a hemorrhoid removal listed as the main procedure. Should have been colonoscopy with hemorrhoid removal as "meh, remove them afterwards - they do not bother me much".

3. Doc gave me NO prep. I had not had a bowel movement in 5 days, and he planned to give me a laxative, wait 4 hours, then go up in me with the scope and a knife. Oh, heeeeeeeeel naw!

That is a quick but incomplete summary of the experience. Yes, I spoke with the foreigner relations office folks who did seem to appreciate and understand what I needed and tried to help resolve the issues with the staff, but the staff I'd been dealing with (can't rag on the entire staff) - were either clueless, lazy, or incompetent.

Both days I was there, we witnessed other patients - Thai and foreigners - having the same type of problems and being surprised with a whopping out of pocket bill despite having insurance. While waiting to re-confirm that BUPA would cover everything, the doc confided that it happens a lot. For example, if insurance covers THB 3000, Aek charges THB 3500. I remain baffled how they came up with the outrageous figure for a routine colonoscopy and removal of 2 minor hemorrhoids.

Walked out, popped two laxative pills, and I am fine now. Still I'm looking for someplace local and COMPETENT for the procedures. Suggestions? Perhaps in Khon Kaen? Otherwise, I'll just haul myself down to Bangkok Pattaya hospital where we NEVER have problems and service is always excellent.
User avatar
KHONDAHM
Member
Member
 
Posts: 345
Joined: November 15, 2009, 3:07 pm

Re: Colonoscopy

Postby rickfarang » June 6, 2011, 9:20 pm

Just a speck of info: I dropped in at Bumrungrad yesterday and asked the cost of a colonoscopy. The answer was "24,000 to 28,000."

Seems to have doubled in the last five years.

As with, KHONDAHM, I will also welcome any reports of locally available procedures.
User avatar
rickfarang
Member
Member
 
Posts: 1796
Joined: January 1, 2006, 6:01 am
Location: Udon Thani

Previous

Return to Health & Beauty

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 0 guests

  • Advertisement