So what about me? Why did I choose to get sedation? Surely I could have toughed-out the pain of the procedure, right? I truthfully think I would have been fine without sedation. However there is one thing that I've learned from being a physician who does procedures for a living: Sometimes there are unintended bad consequences of going against the standard of care.
But what if it's too late? If you're reading this while in the midst of a potentially failed bowel prep don't despair! There are many ways to salvage a bowel prep and still have a safe, high-quality colonoscopy the next day. It all depends on what time you take action; If you wait until 2 hours before the procedure is scheduled than nothing can be done, but if you're already having issues the night before you can totally recover from this and be fine. This is what I usually recommend...
The question of cost is a valid one, especially at the current time where health care costs seem to be spiraling out of control. Many times it seems that the outcomes gained from large health care expenditures do not justify the massive costs, or are not feasible to implement for society as a whole.
I read with interest your blog today, and then some of your other offerings. I am a rural general surgeon who has done 12,000 colonoscopies in 35 years. My question is how do we know that screening is effective at reducing mortality?
Over two years ago, I had a colon resection for the removal of a cancerous tumor (stage 2A). Ever since, I have had on and off bleeding in my stool. My surgeon has done two sigmoidoscopies and my gastro doctor has done two colonoscopies.
Dear Retroflexions, As a victim of anal rape by my domestic married partner, I never recovered...