Colonoscopy

Mood:

Had my colonoscopy yesterday afternoon. I really hate the prep for it, although this time it was better.Used a full pitcher of a miralax/Gatorade mix. It called for 2 weeks worth of miralax. That's a lot.I'm more used to the daily dosage. It didn't dissolve all the way when I started drinking it, so it tasted pretty bad.I had golytely last time, and couldn't stomach more than a glass of it without an anti-nausea pill. Even then, I didn't make it to the halfway mark. I only threw up once this time. It was a lot, though. I think it was a combination of how the first 2 glasses tasted/smelled, and the effects of what it did to my body.It was just too much. It was dissolved enough for the other glasses that I didn't taste/smell it. I'm not used to having regular Gatorade, and certainly not 64 oz of it. (Had to have half of it that night, and the other half yesterday morning.) If I get it, it's normally G2, which is lower in sugar. Of course, I usually get the smaller bottles, too. I think they suggest Gatorade, because of the sugar and electrolytes. Probably lose a lot of that stuff during the 'prep' process. Wouldn't you lose whatever you would take in for the Gatorade anyways? The whole thing was a mess, but I got through it.

Also, when I woke up yesterday morning, I had one of the worst knee cramps I've ever had.It locked up, too. I couldn't get it out of a bent position for a while. It was so painful, and scary. On top of the other stuff, it just added to the ordeal. I think it was because of all the nutrients I had lost.

Last time it was with Group Health in Seattle. This time it was the Digestive Health Specialists in Tacoma at their Endoscopy Center. Kind of interesting that they have a special building for it. The other building, across the street, is where I see my new gastro. It's called the IBD Center. So, a lot of the other stuff related to IBD is done there. They even have an infusion center there. It's near my gastro's office. Infusions would be for meds like Remicade. (I think it's Remicade. I sometimes get confused between that or Humeira...One of them is by infusion, and the other by shots.) Nice that it's all in one area, and that this stuff is essentially all they do. They basically had a mini movie theater in part of the waiting room. The seats were nice and cushiony, and had an interesting cozy looking design.

The nurse that checked me in and did my vitals was interesting. She really loved my coat. I was almost thinking she was going to take it from me.It's really old (several years), and the buttons to the inner lining were ripped out. So, couldn't use it after that. It's not as warm as it looks. I still like it a lot, though.

Apparently, my vitals were better than she expected. She kept telling me about how most people's blood pressures are really high, since they're really nervous about it. Mine was in the mid-normal range. Just a touch higher than what I've been lately, but really good. She was impressed. She also said my lungs sounded fine, and my heart sounded beautiful. Yay!At least, those were good.

I had to tell her about my IUD or Intrauterine Device. It's normally used for birth control, but in my case it keeps me from hemorrhaging. An amazing lifesaver. Anyways, since I told her that I don't get periods anymore because of the IUD, she said she's obligated to have me sign a pregnancy form. That was kind of funny. First, it would be very difficult to get pregnant with the IUD in place. Second, kind of hard to get pregnant without a partner... 

There were about 4 nurses, the gastroenterologist, and an anesthesiologist for the colonoscopy itself. Beforehand, they were all fussing over me. They got the IV in without a problem. Normally it takes forever. They had the heart and oxygen monitors facing me, so I watched it at the beginning. I tried to lower my heart beat as much as I could. Almost for fun, and to calm myself down. It got down to about 58. Most of the time it was around 68 to 70. It went slightly higher as I was talking to the gastro. He wanted to know more about the last one, the symptoms, etc. Last time the nurses wanted to know more about the self-publishing process, which isn't really that exciting. This time we talked about food, telling me it's ok to eat whatever I want after and to just go easy on myself, and possible restaurants to go to afterwards. Actually got me hungrier than I already was.

I felt really heavy and droopy right after they gave me the anesthetic. It really knocked me out for the whole thing. Last time they used something else, and I woke up in the middle of the procedure. Glad I didn't this time.

Later, I woke up in the recovery room, and the nurse there told me to try and pass as much gas as possible. They have to pump air into it in order to go through, take pics, take biopsies, and look around. I had so much air still in me when I went to bed, that it was very painful. Even painful to breathe.I had tried my best to 'let it out', too.

After that, the gastro talked to me about his initial findings/interpretations. It seems my colitis is in remission, but it was damaged so badly from when it was active. So, I have a lot of scarring throughout my entire colon. He said that the scarring can make it difficult to function like normal. As an example, he talked about a permanently scarred hand. The hand wouldn't be as flexible or be able to grasp like before. He said there are meds that can help, biopsies might give more insight, my gastro might have more to say, and there might be other treatments.

They took biopsies every 10cm. That's more samples than last time, which is great. Apparently, I have abnormal vascularity, too. I'm still not positive about what that means, and he didn't mention it. It was in the notes they gave me, though. It has to do with the veins being bigger than normal because of the inflammation. That makes some sense. Wouldn't they go back to normal if the inflammation is better or not there (still unsure) now?

Also, my IC or Ileocecal valve (the valve that connects the small intestines with the colon, and that's near the cecum) was wide open. It's not supposed to be during the exam. If it's stuck open, the 'waste' can splash back into the small intestines, cause infections, and other stuff. Wahoo!If it's stuck closed, it can cause constipation since it'll keep the stuff from moving on. Eventually causing obstructions, perforations, etc. I'm wondering if it was stuck closed before (maybe partially closed), and that was causing the constipation. Maybe the laxative forced it to stay open. Either way, it's weird.

I like that they gave me a copy of the pics of my colon. I always think it's a cool thing to be able to see what's inside me, anyways.I can actually see the scarring myself, and I'm not a doctor. The walls, to me, seem thin compared to other 'normal' pics of it online. That could be another problem. I still think parts of it look awfully red or 'angry'. Not as much as before, but still visible to me. The whole thing looks scary to me.I'll see what my gastro has to say about it. Also, it should be interesting to see the results of the biopsies.

Oh, and I hope I can be get on some sort of pain meds now. That's been the hardest part: the pain.Once I take care of that, I'll probably finally be able to sleep (normally, not like right now). When that happens, other things might start to get better.

Later, we went to the Cheesecake Factory. I wanted a large dish of good food, and usually they have that. After all, I hadn't had food in 2 days, and was on a very restricted diet for 2 days before that. I got their Chicken Di Pana. It had thin breaded chicken sitting in a wine and butter sauce, mashed potatoes, and broccoli. There was way too much broccoli, and the chunks were too big. The rest of it was really good.I thought it was a decent meal, too. Ate all of it, except half the broccoli. I rarely eat like that. When we got home, I had a slice of lemon meringue pie. That made things even better.

I still feel a bit out of it, very sleepy, and it's been hard to focus on things today.I guess the anesthetic is still in my system, and my body is worn out from what it went through the last few days. Maybe I'll sleep even better tonight. Also, I'm not caring what I eat today, or even the portion size. I know it'll probably bite me in the butt later, but I feel like I need to have at least one day where I don't have to think about it. I think it's worth it.

Since I basically ran out of Jdramas to watch, I decided to watch some of the movies/specials on my list. Saw Shiritsu Bakaleya: Koukou The Movie. It had been so long since I watched that series, I forgot about most of it. It was kind of cute, but not the best special.

Saw the Ouran High School Host Club live-action movie. Been a while since I saw that drama and the anime version. I thought it was pretty good. I think the series pushes gender norms quite a bit. Haruhi's dad is trans (male to female. She still refers to her as Dad), and Haruhi herself dresses and tries to act like a male student. She's one of the hosts. She was kind of forced into that role, though. She broke one of the club's expensive vases, and she couldn't afford to replace it. So, they made her join as payment. I forget why she was wearing the male uniform in the first place. They didn't know about her being a girl until quite a bit later. The only thing, that I've read, people have a problem with the live-action version is that most of the actors are in their late 20's. The characters are supposed to be in their teens...Oh, and in this movie they had a Korean actor. That was interesting. His English was a lot better than the others. They didn't speak it that often, though.

Saw the Lupin III live-action movie. I haven't watched much, if any, of the anime. The manga's from the late 1960's, and the anime was on and off starting in the early 70's until the 80's. So, it's a really old series. This movie came out in 2014. Apparently, I watched a Japanese dub. The original was mostly English, from what I've read. People were complaining about how horrible the English was, and I didn't know about it. I guess I saved myself on that. I love the actor who plays Lupin, Shun Oguri. So, I thought that would interest me enough to watch it. In addition to the Japanese actors, there are a lot of actors from Thailand, China, Korea, one from Australia, and one from America. Interesting mix. They also visited a few countries. It seemed like a big budget type of movie. The movie is based on the beginning of the story. It follows Lupin as he forms a gang of thieves to steal a necklace from his rival and a crime boss. Kind of reminded me of the James Bond movies/series (not as good, though), only they're thieves instead of spies. They only steal from the rich. It was cheesy, funny, and semi-decent. I liked it, but it wasn't that great. Kind of fluff.

I also saw Neko Zamurai, or Samurai Cat. I actually liked this one a lot. It was cute, funny, serious at times, about how important pets can be, against animal cruelty (one of the 'elders' mentioned that killing a pet is worse than killing a human), etc. It's based on the old Edo era. Kyutaro is a ronin who takes on small jobs hoping to serve someone in the future again as a full-fledged samurai. That part, and his past, reminds me of Kenshin from Rurouni Kenshin. He's very serious and doesn't talk much. Except he thinks a lot, and his thoughts are heard by the audience. He's hired to kill a cat by a family. The cat is from a rival family, and is about to be 'married off' to another cat from another family. The family who hires him has a dog. Most of them also have something against cats. Anyways, just as he's about to kill the cat, he can't, and ends up taking her home. He turns into a cat lover over time, too. There's a drama of it, too. I might watch it. It's interesting, and better than I expected.

Ao no Exorcist, or Blue Exorcist's 2^nd season just started. It's following the manga, which is great. I get to see it come to life. I don't like that they started it all the way back when they didn't trust Rin. It was an annoying part to the story. Later on, I totally get why they didn't trust Shima. There are a lot of reasons behind that one. And, they've made it so we're still on the fence about him. This is based on the Kyoto arc. I'm wondering how far they'll go. Like, will they go further than that arc? Maybe they'll just start another season with the next arc. Kind of would be similar to Kuroshitsuji (Black Butler) in that way. I wouldn't mind that. I'm glad it's back, though.

Gintama, my fave anime, is back now as well. So happy about this one! Although, it's bittersweet since it'll end soon. Not sure when, or if the anime will just keep going past what the mangaka has planned. That would be awesome, but I doubt it. I wish it could last for a lot longer. It's off to a great start this time. However, all the comedy was within the first few minutes. Then, it was back to the same seriousness as the last arc was. It's great, but we need more comedy mixed in with that heaviness. There were a lot of surprises, too. I saw there was a recent OVA or special. It's about a love potion where the characters fall for each other, but they're weird pairings. If I remember correctly. So, if I really want a bigger dose of their comedy, I should watch that.

Youtube (it's been a while, and I like to share what I fave. Plus, this can be an added fun thing, on top of my somewhat scary health news):

Naruto:

Fukigen na Mononoke (haven't seen too many amv's for this series, and it's pretty good):

Servamp (haven't seen too many for this one, either. A funny and cute amv. Fits a little too well with some of the characters):

Kuroshitsuji:

Mob Psycho 100 (this one's like a trailer):

One Punch Man (the first one's like a trailer, too):

Fairy Tail (I miss this anime! There's talk that it might come back soon, though. The first amv has a snippet of the dub, which is semi-cringe worthy. The subbed version's better. At least, there isn't much of it, and it's good other than that):