<p>somemom, ask him about propofol. It has a VERY short half life, so it does not stay in circulation very long. Many anesthesia providers will use fentanyl in addition to propofol, some will use versed, but colonoscopy/upper endoscopy CAN be done with only propofol. Maybe that would be a better option for you.</p>
<p>Another good thing about propofol is that it has an anti-emetic effect in most patients, rather than the usual nausea inducing effects of many general anesthetics. </p>
<p>As I mentioned upthread, my mom had a colonoscopy and an endoscopy this summer. The colonoscopy was unsuccessful because the doctor couldnât get the scope all the way up due to my momâs very twisty colon. Ended up having a barium enema the same day to visualize the whole colon. This seemed odd at the time to me because she had had several scopes in the past with a different doctor and had no problem. Results of everything were normal. Anyway, she continued to have stomach problems and the other day had to go for CT with contrast because her blood work showed elevated pancreatic enzymes. The results showed her pancreas is fine but she has a âthickeningâ of the large intestine in the area that the scope couldnât get to. The doctor is sending her to a surgeon next week. @Nrdsb4, do you have any insight into what this means? My mom is 83 and didnât ask a lot of questions and now it is the weekend so I canât call him. What does a thickening of the colon wall indicate if they are sending her to a surgeon?</p>
<p>EPTR, of course the first thing that comes to mind (and is probably weighing on yours as well) would be some kind of tumor. But it could also just indicate an inflammatory condition of some kind. Some infectious processes can cause this, as can problems with blood flow to that area. Odds are that it is not anything particularly nefarious.</p>
<p>My MIL had a twisty colon and they couldnât visualize it all. Turned out she had a large benign but pre-cancerous polyp in one of the âturnsâ that they couldnât have removed anyway with the snare, so she was referred for surgery. That section of the colon had to be removed because of course a polyp can develop into a cancer if left in place. </p>
<p>Let us know how it goes. </p>
<p>Thanks, Nrdsb4,
She is in such frail health. COPD, high blood pressure, issues with unexplained anemia (the reason for the GI series), severe scoliosis, etc. I canât imagine they would want to do surgery on her to investigate this.</p>
<p>Good luck to your mother, EPTR.</p>
<p>Some times doing nothing is better for a 80+ old. Grandmom had a breast tumor for years, it turned out cancerous and she refused operation, nevetheless she did not die from it.</p>
<p>EPTR, it might be worthwhile to get a second opinion, or at least question the doctor about the need. She sounds like a terrible candidate for surgery. At some point, with these very elderly and sick parents, aggressive medical intervention can become counterproductive. </p>
<p>Thank you, all. I am going to call her doctor on Monday. I will keep you posted. Didnât mean to hijack the thread. Back to our regularly scheduled colonoscopies.</p>
<p>EPTR, your question was a good one. we are so fortunate having Nrdsb4 on here with her knowledge.</p>
<p>When patients ask the docs âwhen do you recommend I stop having colonoscopies due to age?â The doc usually answers, âWell, if you think you would want to treat a cancer, keep having them if you have a history of precancerous polyps. If you feel that in 5 years you would decline treatment for a cancer, then you can probably be done with them.â</p>
<p>Any time surgery is recommended, itâs always prudent to get a second opinion, and do an assessment of risk/benefit. At EPTRâs momâs age, it may well be that the benefit of surgery would not be justified by the risk involved. I would at least want to know what the actual implication of this colon wall thickening is if itâs possible to find out without surgery.</p>
<p>Help! Iâm in a bit of a panic at the moment. </p>
<p>My H has a colonoscopy scheduled Monday morning. They found a polyp and so itâs only been 3 years since the last one. The office called and said we didnât need a consult and scheduled the procedure. They sent up the info and I put it in our pile and forgot about it. The office called yesterday and yup we are going to be there. They were firm that if you had to cancel, it had to be done 48 hours in advance. </p>
<p>So today I give H the info on the prep and he starts to read it. This is where the panic sets in. In the prep instructions it says that if youâve had a joint replacement you will need to start antibiotics before you have your colonoscopy. Whoops! H had a neck fusion surgery in March of last year. I totally forgot but we guess that this is a joint replacement as he has a titanium disc in his neck. </p>
<p>I canât call the office, they are closed until Monday morning? Do you think they will not do the colonoscopy on Monday? H will do the prep and hope that they will. </p>
<p>I feel so terrible. I didnât even think about this and even if they had asked me on the phone I wouldnât have thought of this neck surgery. H says he would have read the instructions and caught this but I never told him we got any! Of course I am sure I did and he didnât listen but he says I donât finish my stories. </p>
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<p>Although vertebrae are technically joints, I would not necessarily assume this applies to your DH. I have had neck surgery (cervical fusion), and while my new disc is bone not titanium, I have a titanium âcageâ to hold it all together. I did not have to have prophylactic antibioitics.</p>
<p>There should be a doctor on call from your DHâs practice. Call his office number and the answering service will get you in touch with the doctor on call who can call in a RX if needed. Do it asap-they are much more pleasant to work with on this kind of thing if you call while they are still awake.:)</p>
<p>Let us know what happens!</p>
<p>Thank you so much Nrdsb4! Heâs calling the doctor on call right now. </p>
<p>Ok that was wierd. We got the answering service and the message said unless it was life threatening to wait until normal business hours. </p>
<p>^^^^I might be tempted to call anyway. I mean, if he gets an infection from not having had his antibiotics, that could be life threatening. ;)</p>
<p>Just had mine this morning. Prep was tedious. Took me an hour to get the last 2 glasses of Gatorade down.</p>
<p>No issues; no polyps. I didnât feel âsedatedâ â just out. I remember getting wheeled out to recovery then sitting up soon after.</p>
<p>Then I came home and made Thanksgiving dinner for me and my 2 kids (theyâre with my ex tomorrow). Easy stuff â gravy from a jar, turkey breast, pre-made cranberry sauce. But now Iâm tired (up til 1:30 this morning).</p>
<p>Glad itâs over. Hereâs hoping everyone over 50 gets it done and has no issues.</p>
<p>Happy Thanksgiving everyone.</p>
<p>Yea
At least turkey will taste much better after the procedure </p>
<p>Forgot to come back and update. H had the procedure. They werenât worried about the neck fusion surgery. </p>
<p>Everything was good, no polyps. H did not have any problems with the prep, it was annoying. It was also annoying that he felt great afterwards and puttered around the house and felt great. ;)</p>
<p>Classof2015, glad everything went well, and glad itâs over and you get to relax this weekend. </p>
<p>deb922, great news! LOL about your hubby. I slept for many hours afterwards, while DH seems to have no effects whatsoever. He gets right back to work afterwards (he works from a large home office, though, not driving the highways of Dallas :D).</p>
<p>Today is clear liquid day and tonight was the first half of the prep. I have to get up at 5 a.m. so I can have a cup of black coffee before I tackle the second batch. Oh my. Itâs difficult to get down, thatâs for sure and I tried a combination of suggestions found in this thread. I hope they helped because it couldnât have been much worse.
Ugh. </p>