Not for the Fainthearted

I hate the sight of blood in the toilet.

Even though I have a history of bleeding hemorrhoids,

since a surgeon tied them off a few years ago

I haven’t seen a drop of blood.

Nice.

Until. . .

It didn’t help that my friend had breast cancer

then one day filled the toilet with blood

and it was colon cancer.

Instant despair.

Go to Emergency.

What are primary care doctors for?

What are cancer specialists for?

What is Urgent Care for?

What good is your

Gastroenterologist?

Go to Emergency.

We have had three very bad experiences

with Emergency at the University of Utah hospital

and we do not want to go back.

Finally, we settle on

The Acute Care Center

at the Huntsman Cancer Center.

She set us up for a colonoscopy

at the Redwood Clinic

in one week.

We want to go to Farmington.

Sorry.

"This is the first emergency visit I can arrange."

We leave Eddy alone

and we don’t want to be so far away.

Sorry.

By some fluke, Dr. Silon agrees

to see me at the Farmington Clinic.

By now the bleeding has stopped

and I’m at ease.

If he could have seen hemorrhoids

he might have agreed

to let me cancel the appointment at Redwood

and wait until he could do the procedure

on December 12.

He thought it best I keep the appointment.

“I will recommend they do an Endoscopy

at the same time.”

He also sent a prescription into the pharmacy.

When the prescription wasn’t there,

we might have known

he hadn’t ask them to do both procedures either.

Reluctantly, we went to the Redwood Clinic.

After the awful prep

Including getting up at 3 AM

to finish off the last of the “mix”.

we arrived at 7:30 AM.

Dr. Fang

"Someone must have pulled some strings

to get you in with him."

The nurse who called me back asked,

“Haven’t I seen you someplace before?

Have you been here before?”

“Never. We go to Farmington.”

“Oh, that’s where I’ve seen you.

I work there.

I’m just here today as a substitute.”

She was my admitting nurse

for one of my endoscopies
earlier in the year.

I asked her about doing the endoscopy today also.

Dr. Silon hadn’t notified them.

She checked with Dr. Fang

He said that he could not fit it into his schedule today.

I was relieved,

to tell you the truth.

I didn’t want to do it again.

Later, she came back in and said,

“Dr. Fang is going to do it.”

So I had both procedures at the Redwood Clinic.

Back in recovery,

the male nurse says,

“I never forget a face.

Where have I seen you?”

“Farmington?”

He was just working at Redwood today too.

What are the chances?

He thanked DeRay for his Service to our Country

It’s Veteran’s Day lest we forget

(DeRay is a Korean War Vet

who served in Germany when it was under Occupation.)

and sent us on our way by 10 AM.

DeRay picked up the prep stuff early.

1.     1 small box/4 tablets of Bisacodyl (Dulcolax) 5mg tablets.

2.     1 8.3 ounce bottle of Polyethylene Glycol powder (Miralax)

3.     1 64 ounce bottle of sports drink like Gatorade.

4.     1 10 ounce bottle of magnesium citrate.

They set on the counter all week.

At 4 PM on Sunday

I was supposed to take the four Dulcolax pills.

I couldn’t even get the box open.

When DeRay got the box open,

I couldn’t open the pills.

When he got the first pill open,

Shock!

“I’m not taking these.

They are big and hard as a rock.

No way could I swallow them.

It looks like a suppository.”

And it was.

Dulcolax alright but not a pill.

So he had to run to the store again.

If anyone needs four suppositories,

they’re in our fridge!

BTW, this is the fifth time

in just over a year

that I have been anesthetized.

No wonder I can’t stay awake!
Good thing I'm not like Amy
who gets sick and throws up
every time she has anesthetics
then weeks later suffers stomach pains.