MIDDLE-AGED WOMEN 40-60ish

Momine

I am in Greece, and in some hospitals at least, they do it with no drugs.

barbe1958

Hmm, we've had this conversation before about you being in Greece!!! There is a Canadian that uses the same avatar as you and I get confused. They must use SOMETHING over there, even if just to relax you. An IV valium or even oral.... 

elimar86861

It sure is getting colon-y around here.  Well, it IS a Mid-Age issue. 

I have to say I agree with Barbe's description on how it was for me (minus the bacon-cheeseburgers.)   I told them to go light on my sedation.  I wanted to look at the screen.  No such luck.  Or maybe I WAS awake but just do not remember.  Here they give you the drug Versed, which is an amnesiac-class drug, so for all I know I was up and spouting off about aliens the whole time.  Just don't remember a thing.

Momine, I have heard that some have gotten colonoscopy and been awake, because they mentioned looking at the screen; but I still think they got something to relax them and/or ease the minor discomfort.  I say minor because (as Barbe said) I woke up and didn't even feel "violated."  I could not even tell I had been probed.  I do hope you can have the screening comfortably.  Let us know how it is done, when you do get one.  That is part of our cultural exchange program here.

blackcat2012, welcome!  So, what is your Dx, and whereabouts are you in treatment?

Dianarose, Check out "virtual colonocopy" since I think that uses either CT or MRI, but I don't know if either takes the place of the old-school probing.

Momine

LOL, on the cultural exchange. My friend had taken her MIL for one and swore the poor woman was given NADA, nothing, zip. I shall definitely investigate further.

mostlymom

I had a colonoscopy in 1999 WITHOUT anything.  That's why I've never had another.  My DH had one with the same doctor & he got the twilight drugs....  Why?  All I could think was that he just didn't like me!

barbe1958

Momine, your friend wouldn't know if her MIL got drugs or not as you are immediately "AWAKE" and clear-headed (except for those who dream of mice....). She wouldn't have seen her MIL get the drugs either, and by the time she saw her again, her MIL would just be starving!

Sherryc

I had sedation and do not remember a thing and did not feel dragged afterwards

Dianarose yes you still need the colonoscopy. My stepdad had stage 3 CC and it did not show up on the Pet scan but did with the colonoscopy. MO said that is not unusual colonoscopy is the best detection with CC

sheila888

Since we are on the subject....

i had one in March 2008...didn't see or feel anything....when i woke up they offered me juice.......

Do I need one every 5 or 10 years?

MinusTwo

Momine:  My doc also uses Versed.  When i requested to be awake & aware, he offered me that option but said i couldn't change my mind in the middle so I chickened out.  Sounds like you're right.  He said many European come to the US for the test since they mostly use nothing over there.

MinusTwo

Elimar:  Best wishes dealing with your latest issue and thanks for managing this thread. 

Valjean

I recall waking up (being aware anyway) at near what I think was the end of my colonoscopy. I could see the nurse to my left front & a computer screen. I was laying on my left side & the nurse was pushing very firmly, repeatedly, downward on my lower abdomen. It was hurting. I remember moaning & the nurse said, "It's okay, honey. We're just trying to push the gas down." And the next thing I remember I woke up in the recovery room. I didn't ask anyone about it, I didn't even remember it until much later.

Beckers

I had DIEP 3 months ago so the thought of them pushing on my tummy??? Oh no no. I have a referral thats good for 1 year so I'm going to wait.

blackcat2012

Elimar:  I am still basically in the waiting room.  Mammograms/ultrasounds show three lumps with largest being 7 x 4 x 3 cm at 5 o'clock with bi-rads 5 and bi-rads 4. They were unable to biopsy the other two at this point. Both core biopsies I had of the large lump are inconclusive and I have been transferred to a new bs as my old one went on an indefinite leave of absence right after I last saw her and I was tentatively scheduled for an excisional biopsy, so I am in limbo at the moment.  I am just frustrated and I am learning so much from these boards and I have a family history of breast cancer, but my family does not discuss it.

elimar86861

blackcat2012,  Let's hope the new BS can figure you out.  That is a little strange, with your lump being large, that the samples that they got were not conclusive, IMO, but I don't claim to know the finer points of biopsy.  There is still a chance that you have some benign condition, but the chance seems like only a slim one even if just based on the BIRADS evaluation.  I think when it IS B/C, and there are multiple lumps (and sizeable ones,) that mastectomy is something you have to consider.  You will find a ton of information about that on this discussion board.  You may not have family that will discuss, but you have found a whole B/C community that won't stop discussing.  We are here for you.I hope you do not have too much anxiety right now.  I am playing the waiting game now myself and it really is true that "worrying will not change anything" so try not to let the worry eat into you.

barbe1958

blackcat it makes no difference whether your family will talk about it or not. Only 5-10% of breast cancer is hereditary!! So this is all about YOU and not them! I had a very, very rare type of breast cancer called Papillary Carcinoma so I wonder if you've fallen into a strange group like me - less than 2% of all breast cancers!!

elimar86861

O.K., Barbe1958...I notice your new signature tag line.  Did you not trust us to do the math?  Snicker, snicker, hee, hee.   

Valjean

E ~ I know exactly what that ship is.

On the Anniversary of such a tragic event....

People still talk of the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald here in MI. I have seen the bell they retrived from it at the museum at Whitefish Point. Great place to visit if anyone ever gets to the northern edge of the Upper Peninsula of MI. Lake Superior is beautiful but so violent at times & has claimed so many, many lives.

RIP Edmund Fitzgerald.......

MENA1954

Beckers, ME 2!!!!  I have never had one done because I don't know if I can handle the prep.  My Gastroenterologist is waiting for me to make an appointment but as you said " DIEP 3 months ago, colonoscopy can wait a little longer and with the help of God everything is going to be just fine!!!

elimar86861

Val,  Just relating my situation with what can happen when the "winds of November come early."  Get it?  Gordon Lightfoot knows.

All you 50+ Middie ladies, If you can't quite bring yourself to submit to the alien probe, and the nasty prep, you can always ask your doc for the home test known as the Fecal Occult Blood test.  That is if you don't mind collecting your poo for 3 days AND smearing it on some little cardboard squares.  But (and it's a big butt too) the down side to this little test is you can easily get a false positive if you have a cranky hemmorhoid or three.  It is actually suggested that these be done annually, in between the probing years.

                                                                         

staynsane

Yes, I started doing the fecal occult tests at age fifty (thank you for the compliment, Elimar!)  Every year my primary care doctor (Kaiser, No CA) mails me a packet which contains a stick, similar to a small mascara brush in a plastic vial.  You just put a special paper they provide in the toilet first, poop on it (it floats), put the end of the stick in it, then insert it in the vial, seal and mail back.  Easy Breezy.  I have heard that this test is not as reliable as a colonoscopy, but you don't have the slight chance of perforating your colon and don't have to go through the pre-cleanse process either.

I like that it is automatically sent to me and is so easy and private that I do it without fail every year.

Bobbisil

Staysane, dang girl! There's NO WAY you're over 50!! You look great!

blackcat2012

I'm just nervous I guess and I did get most of my radiology reports and I noticed that they do not mention anything about three masses/lumps and that one is a satellite mass.  My last bs told me that at my last appt.  I was so upset when they called me and told me my bs is on an indefinite leave of absence that I needed to take a break from seeing the surgeon and being poked and proded so I see a new bs next week.  I am hoping to get more answers then or at least better ones.  I don't know what to ask when I go in as I really don't know anything yet.

TAB55

Barbe is right.  When I had my colonoscopy 6+ years ago, they gave me a sedative, and I didn't feel anything.  Well, except that I was STARVING afterwards.  The prep is definitely the worst part.  I had planned to weigh myself after the prep, but I was too tired to do anything except curl up in the fetal position and sleep.  The good news is that if the results are good you don't need to go through it again for 10 years.  It's good to get the test, because it's a relief to know you're good to go (so to speak) for 10 years.  It helps to eat lots of fruit, vegetables and fiber.

TAB55

blackcat2012: So sorry to hear about your lumps.  I hope they are all B9 and nothing to worry about, but don't wait to find out.  {{{{hugs}}}} to you.

blackcat2012

I do have an appt next week so I am hoping to learn more then.

JRyan

(((Blackcat2012))) good vibes coming your way!

Valjean

E ~

Valjean

My ob-gyn does a rectal immediately after my pap smear & sends that smear to be tested. My PCP told me if I have that done, I do not have to do the fecal occult cards.

barbe1958

There is a new thread about putting our ages in our tag lines so questions about treatment can be appropriately asked. I'd always thought that having 1958 in my avatar name meant y'all could do the math, but apparently some ladies don't like math, so now it's in my tag line.

TAB55

I'll be 57 in less than two weeks.  How did that happen?