Trading Spaces

The Doctor as the Patient:

I am not good at keeping up on my own health maintenance. It's difficult for me to get time off to go to the doctor for routine physicals and such, and even more difficult to have time off for procedures. My older sister is a colon cancer survivor (yay, DeeDee!), and because of that family history, I am supposed to get a colonoscopy every five years.

Well...right after her diagnosis nine years ago, I had my first scoping. The scope itself is not bad. They give you some nice sedation, and it's fun to watch the fantastic voyage through the lower digestive tract. But the prep the day before is gnarly, to say the least. So, basically, I need two full days off of work or prep on Sunday for a Monday procedure to really make this work.

I was supposed to have my first follow-up scoping four years ago. I could've had it at the Katie Couric Colonoscopy Center, or whatever it's really called. But, I was in my fellowship at the time, and the schedule really didn't permit letting me off for a couple of days. So, I kept putting it off and putting it off, until I finally just bit the bullet and made the appointment.

R has had this procedure several times before, which was a big help to me in being able to get through the prep part. The prep was not fun at all, but he was understanding and injected humor into it. He even made up a little song about it, to go with the tune from the novelty jumprope that was in my Easter basket...that went with a little dance to the tune from my jumprope.

Having a colleague that I see at least once a week perform a procedure on me (particularly that procedure) was a little weird. I hope that he doesn't picture my posterior every time he sees me now. Those GI guys are probably used to that kind of thing, but I tried to make extra-sure that I was a model patient all around. I wanted to be well-prepped and polite and cooperative. I think I was pretty-much asleep through the whole thing. The versed that they give as part of the sedation is good that way, causing retrograde amnesia. I remember getting the sedation and then maybe a peek or two at my colon on the screen, then the recovery room.

Anyway, the procedure only took 20 minutes, and I had a nice nap in the recovery room. The doctor had my results printed up before I left, and everything was hunky-dory. I don't have to do this again for another five years. Now for that GYN appointment I've been putting off....