Colonoscopy Preparation - The Best and Worst Parts

My posts have been short this past few days and today, because most of this week I've been preparing for the colonoscopy I had this morning. Like most people who take this diagnostic procedure, I dreaded it. As most people who have taken this test know, the colonoscopy itself is a piece of cake compared to the preparation one has to do.

The worst part of that is the liquid diet for about a day and a half before the test followed by another 24 hours of powerful laxatives and their aftermath. In contrast, the procedure itself is easy. The worst of that was the very tight blood pressure cuff that squeezed my arm painfully about five times before they knocked me out. It seemed they had barely knocked me out when I was waking up, all finished except for getting unhooked from all my monitors and IV's.

The best part of the preparation was having lots of time to read. In four days I finished six novels -- five mysteries and one romance. You can see them in the photo above. I checked them all out Monday at the Paso Robles Public Library and finished the last one  today. Earlene Fowler, Carol Higgins Clark, and Debbie Macomber are favorite authors. I find Erle Stanley Gardner's Perry Mason's mysteries keep my mind occupied and are quick to get through.

 A gentleman who was browsing new books next to me suggested I try reading a new author, Alafair Burke, so I checked out some of her legal thrillers to sample. On my own I decided to try The Color of Law by Mark Gimenez, another legal thriller. All of these books took my mind off my MoviPrep cocktails and helped entertain me while dealing with the results. One does not want to sit in a bathroom for hours a day with nothing to read. I enjoyed all these books, so having time to read them was the best part of this entire week -- except for finally putting this colonoscopy behind me for another ten years.

Observations: It seems there are changes in the recommended preparation for the colonoscopy since the last time I endured it. First, I had to mix the MoviPrep cocktails myself. Second, it didn't seem to taste as bad as last time. Last, you don't get much sleep for the 24 hours preceding it. I don't remember exactly when I had to take the laxatives last time, but I know I didn't have to take the last dose 4-5 hours before arriving for the procedure as I had to this year. For me that meant being up at 3 AM and staying up. There is no  way to settle down and sleep once you start taking the MoviPrep because you will be on the run for the entire night. I didn't even bother to go  to bed. I read all night.

Feel free to share your own experiences with this procedure below.