First Colonoscopy After Colostomy: What to Expect?

Have to go in for my post op screening and was wondering what to expect. Any advice on prep. Thanks

Ware a drainable bag. You will need it.

Absolutely no different from when you had a bum with the following differences:

You won't have to drink goo or take medication the day before (this maybe an advantage of having a short bowel though and my not apply to you).

You'll probably do a single Fleets followed with a tap water enema about 2 hours before.

You'll be on your back when you go under but they may make you lay on whichever side that puts your stoma higher (easier to get to).

Depending on your doctor you may have to go down to a naked abdomen but they won't do that until you go into the exam room.

You'll need a full appliance set up (just in case).

If you have a PICC line I recommend you bring a couple saline syringes and a heprin syringe and IV line caps.  You'd be surprised what they don't have in Endo units.

The sleep feels the same LOL.

Dave

Hi Ranger,

This might sound stupid, but make sure you check with the person actually doing the scoping to find out how much of the bowel will be scoped. You'd naturally think they'd check the whole thing while you're under, but I've found they rarely do. I was shocked to find out that during my last endoscopy they only went in 18cm and called it a day! When my Gastro (who didn't do the scoping) reviewed my endoscopy results at our follow-up appointment, I just happened to ask her if they checked my rectum and went through my stoma to check my small bowel as well. You know, to look at everything, and she looked at the report and said, "No, they only went in through the stoma and went in 18cm." I asked her what the hell did that prove. I want to know I'm totally disease-free, not just the first 18cm. I could tell she wasn't sure what to say, and then agreed with me and said she'd make sure the next time they checked it all. This was at Georgetown, the same hospital they take the President to if he has issues. For crying out loud.

So BEFORE they stick that scope in you, ask them what exactly they plan to look at, and if it's not the whole thing (or at least everything they CAN reach), make sure to ask why. Oh, the other thing they did was stick my IV in my forearm and totally miss the vein. The IV bottle was dripping, so the nurse figured we were good to go. But when the anesthesiologist found I wasn't getting the least bit groggy, he checked my forearm, which was now as big as Popeye's because it was full of saline, and called a time-out while they redid my IV. I've had endoscopies done without any anesthesia, and it's no fun, to say the least. So just keep your eyes open and check everything they do. To them, you're just the 9:00 am appointment and the 10 o'clock is right behind you being prepped. So it's up to you.

And go easy on the graham crackers and juice they give you when you wake up. Really.

Later,

bob