Top 'n' Tail

I went for a Gastroscopy & Colonoscopy.  

The preparation was, as expected, a slow process.  Others report that it starts within the hour of taking the first dose.  Mine took 4 hours.  After the second dose, which I took 30 minutes early, the process was still going until 20 minutes before we left.  All a bit too close for comfort!

The guy who was doing the pre-event interview asked, "you're here for the top 'n' tail?" 

I was. He asked a lot of other questions too, and was yawning quite a bit, so it was no wonder that some of the answers he recorded incorrectly.  No big deal though, they were re-checked in the theatre.  

It seems to me that the medical profession are getting less and less willing to recommend a course of action.  Am I going to have the throat spray to numb the throat?   Well, I don't know, is it worth it, I haven't had this procedure before?  Not much of an answer was given, then the same question for the muscle relaxant and anaesthetic.  The only answer was that if I do, I have to be watched for 24 hours.  So, I opted to take anything that would reduce the discomfort.  After all, the preparation process that flushed out my tubes, like a dodgy radiator, had been pretty sore.

First the top, then the ...

A guide is strapped in the mouth and the tube passed through a hole in it and down your throat.  There is a need to swallow, but it is difficult and ineffective - because the doctor has control. Then you watch the big screen as the camera moves back and forth.  There was no running commentary, so I didn't know what I was looking at.  Feeling the camera come back up is very odd, I could only work out what was happening by watching the screen.

Then the other end, and here the medication is working well, I hardly feel a thing.

At the end, I am taken to recovery and watched by three nurses, regularly checking on me every few minutes. I'm given some results and some documentation - a report of what they did, and where biopsies were taken.

Then they call Jo, who has been waiting patiently in the pub over the road.  They are very intent on making sure they hand me over to a responsible adult, and watch me get into the car.

Then it's home to eat - I can have anything as I have been told that all diets are suspended.  We go out for fish and chips; I really enjoyed it.  The following day I have to be with Jo until 4pm (the end of the 24 hours).  I have an uncomfortable throat, not sore exactly, perhaps a bit bruised.  

Two days later, the digestive system seems to have returned to normal, though not quite, it will be another two days before that happens.

It was nice to be in an NHS facility that felt adequately staffed, where things ran smoothly and largely to the appointment time.