{"id":143,"date":"2011-05-13T10:08:00","date_gmt":"2011-05-13T17:08:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bone-in-the-throat.com\/Blog\/?p=143"},"modified":"2021-08-26T18:41:29","modified_gmt":"2021-08-27T01:41:29","slug":"wheeew-thats-over","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bone-in-the-throat.com\/Blog\/2011\/05\/13\/wheeew-thats-over\/","title":{"rendered":"Wheeew! That&#8217;s Over!"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Well that rite of passage is over!<\/p>\n<p>The surgical center gave me a lovely parting gift telling me I had no issues in my colon and there were pictures to prove it. (Again, places that a camera should never go!)<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;m going to plug these folks because they deserve it.<\/p>\n<p>The Newport Beach Surgery Center is an absolutely fantastic place for Outpatient procedures.<\/p>\n<p>This is the second time I&#8217;ve been in their care and they really do make the experience as pleasant as possible the staff is simply great.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/bone-in-the-throat.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Blog Photos\/newportBeachSurgeryCenter.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright\" src=\"https:\/\/bone-in-the-throat.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Blog Photos\/newportBeachSurgeryCenter.jpg\" alt=\"\" border=\"0\"><\/a>I can also recommend the following physicians.<\/p>\n<p>Dr. Lochner &#8211; Internal Medicine<br \/>\nDr. Rodriguez &#8211; Gastroenterology, Internal Medicine<br \/>\nDr. Shadid &#8211; Surgeon<br \/>\nDr. Topkis &#8211; Anesthesiology<br \/>\nDr. Patel &#8211; Anesthesiology<\/p>\n<p>The reason there are two anesthesiologists listed is that depending on scheduling at Newport Beach Surgery Center it&#8217;s luck of the draw.<\/p>\n<p>They were both were kind, courteous, and gentle. Also, what they said was going to happen did.<\/p>\n<p>I vaguely remember going out for the surgery, and seeing Dr. Topkis putting something into the IV. But I don&#8217;t remember anything else until I woke up in recovery.<\/p>\n<p>With Dr. Patel and the colonoscopy&#8230; I remember being wheeled into the room with the equipment and seeing Dr. Rodriguez even teasing with him a bit and then I think Dr. Patel put something in the IV and I must have dropped mid thought&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>I woke up in recovery with an oxygen mask and heard the soft beep beep beep of a heart monitor.<\/p>\n<p>If you&#8217;re looking for excellent care, and people that are <b>HUMAN<\/b> instead of what has become all too common in physicians these days I&#8217;d say make the drive to Newport Beach.<\/p>\n<p>You might not want to mention that I sent you&#8230; I&#8217;m a real pain in the ass as a patient&#8230; You don&#8217;t want to get off on the wrong foot with these folks! \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n<p><b><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Now about the Colonoscopy itself&#8230;<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/bone-in-the-throat.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Blog Photos\/gut-check-colonoscopy-ch.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright\" src=\"https:\/\/bone-in-the-throat.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Blog Photos\/gut-check-colonoscopy-ch.jpg\" alt=\"\" border=\"0\"><\/a>Guys, as has been said many times, the prep is the absolute worst part of this procedure. (I got an &#8220;Excellent&#8221; on my report about my prep, so there!) Doc Rodriguez wanted me to not eat anything except clear liquids the day before the procedure. I was able to have coffee that morning.<\/p>\n<p>Around 3:00 PM that day, I started drinking the &#8220;kool-aid&#8221; (actually the stuff is some Polyethylene Glycol concoction with a ton of mineral salts in it.)<\/p>\n<p>The biggest problem for me is that I knew I was drinking something that I shouldn&#8217;t be. My instincts about self preservation and not intentionally hurting myself were going nuts! (Note to any Psychs reading this, You&#8217;re not likely to <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">ever<\/span> see me on a suicide watch list.)<\/p>\n<p>After overriding my instincts, and drinking about 3 glasses of this stuff&#8230; well, it was time to take a book and go to the bathroom. It wasn&#8217;t too bad at first but by the time I&#8217;d finished the <b>whole 4 liters<\/b> of the mix<\/p>\n<p>I was ready to see ANY room in the house except the bathroom.<\/p>\n<p>After the flushing, I was just tired, hungry, cranky and my butt was sore. Oh, one of the nurses suggested and I recommend it too, get a box of baby wipes for yourself. Even with the baby wipes, my butt was sore, I can&#8217;t imagine what it would have been like with just toilet paper.<\/p>\n<p>By about 6 PM the Bathroom time was done and I did treat myself to a little bit of lemon Jello about 8PM. (NOTE: Nothing RED or PURPLE. I guess the dyes can look like blood or something else abnormal.)<\/p>\n<p>After that water, plenty of water&#8230; watch a little TV, then bed time.<\/p>\n<p>Next morning, up early. Jerry was so kind driving me down there even though I was cranky. The drive to Newport is a long one from Wrightwood but for the quality of care it&#8217;s worth it.<\/p>\n<p>After the prep, it&#8217;s a pretty easy deal. You show up at the facility, check in, get into one of those silly gowns with no back, and they take you to a nice bed. You&#8217;re asked a few questions, then they hook you up to an IV. Strange thing about the IV is that I was thirsty when I got to the place, but after the IV had been running a bit I wasn&#8217;t thirsty anymore and in fact had to get out of the bed to take a leak.<\/p>\n<p>This is where I appreciate the staff at Newport Surgical. They&#8217;re Busy as hell! And yet they were kind and acted like it was no problem to help me trundle my ass to the bathroom. I know it must have been a pain for them to break their routine but they didn&#8217;t even blink.<\/p>\n<p>After that it&#8217;s like &#8220;Click&#8221; and you&#8217;re in recovery. I can suggest that if you wake up with an oxygen mask on, BREATHE DEEP.<\/p>\n<p>It helps, my head cleared probably within a half hour. I remember thinking breathe, this is the good stuff! I occupied myself reading the vitals monitor above my head. When I first work up I vaguely remember that it looked like my BP and Heart Rate were a tad high (for Me) but then as I kept breathing deep everything stabilized back to normal. I don&#8217;t know what that was about but it kept me interested and conscious. (figure I&#8217;ll ask about it when I see the Doc next.)<\/p>\n<p>There is one thing that you should be prepared for. When it&#8217;s over, you&#8217;ll be lying there and you will be passing gas. A LOT of gas. No it&#8217;s not technically yours. The procedure pumps a bit of gas into you so that they can see the walls of your colon better. So&#8230; after the tube is removed, well you get the picture.<\/p>\n<p>Dudes let &#8216;er rip! The post op nurse is listening for that to make sure you&#8217;re ok.<\/p>\n<p>I remember some conversation about it as I was being unhooked from the IV. It may be the ONLY time when its OK be as loud as you want. (aside from competitions with your hunting buddies or brothers)<\/p>\n<p>Think about the beans scene in <i>Blazing Saddles<\/i><\/p>\n<p>We were in the car by 9 or 10 and home by 11 am. No ill effects and while I did nap a bit off and on during the day it wasn&#8217;t a completely awful experience.<\/p>\n<p><b><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">As an aside<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n<p>I did a little research on something called a virtual colonoscopy as well. I think going old school is probably a better idea for ONE simple reason.<\/p>\n<p>If you actually have to have a growth removed&#8230; The virtual will show it but you&#8217;re still going to have to go old school to actually have it removed.<\/p>\n<p>That being the case&#8230; if the prep is the same you might as well have the tube in your colon ready to remove the growth right then. I&#8217;m for a minimalist approach, save the extra steps and it&#8217;s probably less expensive in the long run.<\/p>\n<p>That&#8217;s just my opinion. And FOR GOD SAKE don&#8217;t take anything I&#8217;ve said here as gospel. THIS is just MY experience your results will vary. Talk to <b>your<\/b> Doctor and come to <b>your own<\/b> conclusions.<\/p>\n<p>As always&#8230; Think for yourself!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Well that rite of passage is over! The surgical center gave me a lovely parting gift telling me I had no issues in my colon and there were pictures to prove it. (Again, places that a camera should never go!) I&#8217;m going to plug these folks because they deserve it. The Newport Beach Surgery Center &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/bone-in-the-throat.com\/Blog\/2011\/05\/13\/wheeew-thats-over\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Wheeew! That&#8217;s Over!&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[44,16],"tags":[175],"class_list":["post-143","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-male","category-mens-health","tag-male"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bone-in-the-throat.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bone-in-the-throat.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bone-in-the-throat.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bone-in-the-throat.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bone-in-the-throat.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=143"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/bone-in-the-throat.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10409,"href":"https:\/\/bone-in-the-throat.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143\/revisions\/10409"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bone-in-the-throat.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=143"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bone-in-the-throat.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=143"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bone-in-the-throat.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=143"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}