Andra Procedure

 Hey Blog,

I hope everyone’s weekend went well and that Kedrick had an awesome birthday and party! As a continuation of last week’s blog I’m currently going through the painful process of colonoscopy prep. These past 7 days I’ve been following a low-residue diet which cuts all vegetables, fruits, and nuts (pretty much anything fatty or with high fiber), which wasn’t TOO difficult. Today, the day before my colonoscopy, I now follow a clear liquid diet up until 2 hours before it’s time (where I can’t have any food or water). So far I’ve had chicken broth, water, and Gatorade lemon-lime. At 6pm (it’s now 7pm as I write this) I was required to take the first portion of the laxative (6oz of laxative diluted with 10oz of water + 16oz of water + 16oz of water), so you can likely imagine where I’m sitting currently. I will have to repeat this process 6 hours before my appointment, waking me up bright and early at 3:00am. All I can I say right now an hour in is… wow. I was very close to throwing up this prep due to the disgusting taste and chugging nature, but I pushed through. The stomach pain is heavy, the pressure is on. I have books downloaded on my phone for what feels is going to be a long night on the throne. 

Update 1: It’s now 3 am, and I’m ready for the second round of chugging. I’ve decided to give myself a full hour to take this horrible liquid so I don’t throw it up, so I’m sitting criss-cross on the toilet slowly drinking down this prep.

Update 2: at 4am I threw up the liquid prep. After this occurrence I stopped blogging so here I am 2 days later after my colonoscopy giving the completed version of what happened. After my body completed emptied I had some obvious anxiety that without fully completing my prep I would have to do this process all over again and reschedule the colonoscopy. Luckily, I didn’t have to do that. I went back to bed and woke up with a fever of 101, which was likely due to the fact I hadn’t had any food in the last 24 hours, my colon is bare bones, and I threw up whatever last nutrients I even had. I couldn’t have any food or water when I woke up being so close to the procedure so I put some ice and cold compress on my head in hopes to get the fever down before the colonoscopy because they won’t perform it if you’re over 101. I did it. They put me right to sleep, I had the best nap of my life, and it turns out I have either Crohn’s or Ulcerative Colitis with biopsies and follow-up’s to confirm. After my colonoscopy I had a meal (YES!) and took a 4-hour nap. I woke up with a fever of 104 (bummer), and after debating on going to the ER, I decided I’ll just take my steroids (they gave me more in the meantime for the pain and inflammation) and Tylenol, and see if the fever broke. It did, and I had well-deserved pizza for dinner. Still recovering the next day, I decided to work from home and luckily had no fever today. The discussion of my treatment plan is in 2 weeks, and then I get to figure out what medication I’ll be on for the rest of my life… yay.