The Colonoscopy Experience
- Jun 27
- 1 min read
Updated: Jun 30
Zero Stars.
Jumping to tips and takeaways:
Don't attempt to work during the first fasting day. I should have taken the day off and slept as much as possible. Showing up on video conference for meetings and mustering coherence for a full workday made everything worse.
Try to get a morning appointment. I was not in control of this, Stanford set my appointment at 2 p.m. So I went from 8 p.m. Wednesday until 4 p.m. Friday with no solid food.
Embrace sugar. Full-sugar apple juice was the only thing that took the edge off the intense hunger. Gatorade was not potent enough. Alternating apple juice with diet 7UP and vegetable broth worked best for me. Thank God black coffee is allowed.
Plan a day to recover. I felt OK the next day, just super run-down. I had a ton of errands and packing to do, but really could have used a day of rest.
So, yeah... This was as horrible as I expected. The gallon of prep drink was gaggy - but the fast was the hardest part.
The actual procedure was the most bearable part of the ordeal. I was given a lighter sedative due to my low blood pressure and heart rate, so I saw the whole thing on the monitor while listening to the doctor's commentary. I saw my surgical seam and watched the doctor grab a polyp and clip the bleed. Kind of interesting. Final results in 1-2 weeks.
To be clear, we all need to do this.