<p>Good luck! I am in the process of getting mine scheduled (ugh). But, they told me that they’d be calling me to discuss my personal habits and will tailor the prep to me based on my personal history, habits, etc. Please remind me what is the EASIEST prep to tolerate. I a=want to ask for that!</p>
<p>Had mine this week…really not bad. Hunger/ no sleep/boredom was the hardest. Did dulcolax, and Gatorade/miralax and it wasn’t distasteful at all. Dr said it “worked” beautifully.</p>
<p>@2016BarnardMom, good luck with everything. I hope that after this is done you have many fewer symptoms. Be sure to let us know how everything goes.</p>
<p>If they won’t give you the pills (a lot of doctors won’t anymore), then I’d go with the dulcolax and Gatorade/Miralax combo. If you pick a flavor of gatorade you like, it won’t be bad. Couldn’t taste the Miralax at all. This one I’m doing right now is pretty nasty. It’s Gavilyte-N (generic Nulytely I think) and it’s quite salty. The doc said I could put crystal light lemonade in it to help. Salty lemonade- ack. I’m chasing it with some chicken buillon which is supposed to be salty anyway. It’s helping. </p>
<p>Hang in there, Barnard Mom!</p>
<p>I did it! And DH had his last month! 
DH’s went so well, that I chose the same doc. The prep was clear liquid diet for one day, then at 5:00 p.m. that day, you start the prep solution which was MoviPrep. It is a salty tasting drink with a citrus overtone. Mix with water (refrigerating it helps!), drink 8 oz every 15 minutes (32 oz total). Then, seven hours before your scheduled time, you do another 32 oz. of MoviPrep. So, for me, I had to get up at 2:30 a.m. to drink this over an hour, then stayed up another hour to “go”. The actual “going” part wasn’t that bad, probably due to the liquid diet during the day. I had heard to get baby wipes or diaper rash ointment, but honestly, I didn’t need any of that. </p>
<p>DH’s procedure was done in a day surgery center; mine was in the local hospital. Not sure why the difference, other than we do have different insurance, so perhaps that dictated. The most “painful” part of the whole thing was getting the IV put in, since the nurse had to try twice to get it inserted.</p>
<p>I believe the drugs I had were propofol and fentanyl. DH went immediately to sleep for his; I on the other hand was awake for the whole thing, and since I was facing the big screen, I got to see the whole thing! They kept asking me if I was okay, and I was fine. Just some wiggly sensations “down there” but nothing hurt at all. The doc found one polyp, which he removed and said was most likely nothing, but I should hear from the lab in a few days. </p>
<p>DH is good for another 10 years; doc said, depending on what the polyp turns out to be, I may be 5 years, but will most likely be 10.</p>
<p>And then, after I lounged about in the recovery room for 45 minutes or so, we left and drove straight to my favorite Mexican food restaurant! :)) I slept like a rock last night and am back at work today.</p>
<p>As everybody says, the worst part of this is the prep. The MoviPrep stuff is pretty nasty tasting; both times, after I finished the 32 ounces, I brushed my teeth reallllllyyyy good! </p>
<p>I had the same experience @kellie1. The IV insertion was the most painful part. At the first attempt, the needle went through my vein. Second attempt was successful but both attempts were painful to me. I was out cold for the actual procedure so no bad memories of it. </p>
<p>Hooray for everyone who has done this and is good to go for another bunch of years!</p>
<p>Barnard Mom, how are you doing?</p>
<p>I haven’t been online a lot. I’m healing little by little. They say the surgery was successful. I’m still eating a bland low fiber diet and am having some pain after eating. I started out recovering faster than I expected but feel like it has slowed a lot. </p>
<p>It’s good to see you back though. Take it easy.</p>
<p>Tummies are funny things. (Ha, ha.) Take it easy. You’ll certainly be 100% by the holidays.</p>
<p>Barnardmom
Glad you got it over. Happy recovery. </p>
<p>Had mine 3 weeks ago. Since I was on-call that night, I had mine with a spinal anesthetic and no narcotics. I got to watch the whole thing on the screen. Though I was never in pain, I could feel the endoscope advancing through my intestines. The worse part was the 48 hour clear liquid diet. I think the bowel prep wasn’t as bad as not having any solid food. But knowing that I don’t have any abnormalities in my colon was all worth it. I wish everyone would get their colonoscopies as recommended. We still see colon cancers occurring in people who could have been saved by this relatively easy procedure.</p>
<p>I thought that when I began working at an endoscopy clinic that it was going to be a common thing to see patients coming back to recovery with some very bad news pending. It actually has not been the case.</p>
<p>We do see a WHOLE lot of precancerous polyps, so I think we are reaping the benefits of timely colonoscopy-we are getting to these lesions before they have a chance to develop into a cancer. It’s one of the few cancers we can actually prevent in susceptible individuals.</p>
<p>I have mine scheduled in a few weeks. Not looking forward to it.</p>
<p>jym I guarantee the process is going to be 10 times better than selling your dad’s estate long distance. </p>
<p>^^^^Just don’t turn on the TV the day before. All you will see are commercials featuring glistening, cheesy burgers, pasta and chicken or seafood being tossed in a pan over a flaming grill, beautiful green salads, and decadent desserts. This while you are downing yet another green or orange jello (can’t have red or purple) or low salt chicken broth. </p>
<p>Did not read the posts, sorry folks. Had my second one this week. Gentle prep but a gallon of spiked lemonade flavor Gatorade in less than 2 hours… Plus more liquids- I did a diet Mt Dew (don’t like coffee or tea) plus water and- more Gatorade. Used plenty of ultra soft Charmin… The actual procedure is so easy. Best part- your weight will be down when your gut is totally empty! I figure I am half done- every ten years but I think over 90 is too old to worry so if I should live that long I won’t bother.</p>
<p>From the Mayo Clinic site:</p>
<p>“People older than age 75 who have been getting regular colon cancer screening since age 50 and who have had consistently negative screenings — no polyps (adenomas) or colon cancer — and are not at an increased risk of colon cancer because of family history need not continue getting routine screening.”</p>