Monday 20 July 2015

The Colonoscopy... of Doom

We arrived at Calvary Hospital at 7.30am. I had still been making dashes to the toilet all night, so I was a bit worried about leaving the house, but things settled down, and no dramas ensued.

We sat in a waiting room full of people also waiting for colonoscopies, looking tired and washed out. All of them were much older than me.

As we had been booked in at very short notice, this was the first time I met the Doctor.

One good thing about the procedure is that you don't have to get changed into a hospital gown. You just wear some of your own comfy clothes, and the nurses help you get organised and lying on your side, under a blanket.

If I remember correctly, the cannula was put into my wrist (as opposed to the corner of my arm). There was beeping and bustling and talking. All the staff were really nice. I remember crying. As much as needles scare me, I don't usually cry. I think they asked me to count, I think I remember being glad they didn't ask me to count backwards (too hard!). My eyes closed, and when they were open again it was over.

The Doctor gently but with much gravity told me that they'd found a growth. They'd taken a biopsy to send it off and see what it was.

A growth. OK, we'll get that taken out then I guess. I still didn't think it would be cancer. I suspect I was the only one.

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