Hi all
well I had my CT scans this morning. I had a hard time getting down the barium. yeck. Ct's were on bowels, stomach and pancreas.
Labs also back elevated IGA test. Not sure what that means.
I guess I will not know anything until March 4. Wait wait wait
Hugs to all harlin
Least you got through it,, waiting is hard,, I see a gastro this afternoon,, a local guy,, not sure what to expect from him,, but I will ask him about crohns, my bowels have stopped working nothing is moving now,, its so hard being in pain,,
Hi Harlin :)
I think tests and waiting for results are among the worst times! (Especially if you're told part of a result and are not sure what it means - it seems an age till you can speak to the doc about it!)
Glad you managed o get the test done anyway. Hope it gives you some answers.
Navydad - good luck with the gastro. My son has Crohn's but his bowels moved and moved and moved!!
Take care both - Scottie :)
Hi Harlin,
Glad you got the CT Scan over with....and yes...whats up with that barium? The one I had to drink said "Vanilla Barium Smoothie" or something like that.....didn't taste like no smoothie I ever tasted! ;D
Hang in there and I hope you get some answers soon!
Navydad,
Hope your GI appt went well today too...keep us posted!
He thinks its IBS,, but itsnt ruling out nerve damage
Hi Navydad :)
Is he going to do further tests to find out?
I got dxd with IBS but not until after they'd done a colonoscopy to rule out other stuff.
Take care - Scottie :)
Hi Harlin, good luck lady, and I hope the doctor can figure it out for you!
Hi Navydad, yeah, got to love the IBS label! Anyway, I sure hope that he can put it together for you, so you can finally feel better!
Take care of yourselves -
Patze
You know, I have to say that colonoscopies these days just aren't the devil people make them out to be. For one thing, my sister just died of colon cancer so I'm especially aware. She had her last colonoscopy 8 years prior and they recommend 10 years. Well, probably if she'd had one at 5 years she would be alive.
But, but, I used to be treated for IBS-like symptoms in my younger days. Well, the only thing I ever got was my GP doing a Sigmoidoscopy in his office. There is no anesthetic and the doc would go in with this flex device with a light on the end of it. The drs nose was right there too. I won't describe the position the patient had to take. Then there was the barium enema as the next test, not the same day. There was no anesthesia for this either. I had tons of those. I'd be screaming in the doc's office for him to STOP that thing going in me.
Now, colonoscopies (from what I know) are done in the hospital. The prep is no fun and never was. But, gee, the colonoscopy is nothing more than 10 minutes of a nap for most people. For me, I get loud and silly on the IV they give me and I'm always afraid I will be inappropriate with the drs. I have to have one every other year now and I don't mind a bit. Ludy
Thanks everyone i am a little scared for the results. I go back on the 4th.
Navy Dad how did your apt go?
harlin
Lucy, OHhh boy! Do I ever remember those sigmoidoscopys they did in the office. Pain beyond belief. It always set up enormous spasms in my colon and it took me a a week to settle down when I got home.
I just had a colonoscopy on Tuesday(yesterday) and I got a clean bill of health. I had to have it per orders of my immunologist. He says that people with low t-cells and immune problems are more apt to get cancers. Anyway, I just hated to have it done cause I get so darn sick from the stuff that you have to drink.
This time I had to drink the gallon of Golytely and it was much improvement over the old stuff. You add water to the powder and it makes one gallon of a mild tasting salty electrolyte solution. It isn't all that much fun to drink but it is not bad. You have to drink 8 ounces every 10 minutes til you have drank 8 glasses. It is a colon wash and that is exactly what happens. None of the bad cramping, etc.
Then I had to get up at 3AM and drink another 8 glasses of solution. This really cleans you out good. You have to keep drinking the other stuff like pop, juice, jello, etc to keep your fluids and calories up. I got a little weak in the morning but drank a little pepsi and some gatorade and perked up. You can't drink anything for one hour before the scoping and I had mine done at 7:30 as I wanted to get it over with early cause of the sjogrens and the dryness that comes on fast. I was really surprised that they found nothing as my colon really has a very weird mind of its own. I think I have my IBS back. Also, I get the sciatica in my back that lasts forever and then stops and comes back. When I have this I have pain straight through into my colon(left mid abdomen) and it affects my colon and bowel movements. It took me forever to figure this out. So, neuropathy is part of the game now.
When I was up to my pulmonary doc last week I had to have a lung scan and they saw that the cyst in my liver that goes back at least 20 years has grown larger. I have to go in March and have an ultrasound of my liver with dye to see what is going on. It is always something!!!!!!!!! I told my hubby that I have all this crap and all these tests that take time and money. Some day I will probably fall off a curb and break my freaking neck and that will be it!!!
Also, last week when up for my infusion we stopped to shop and I got out of the truck and slipped on the ice and fell hard and hit the back of my head lower down towards the neck. I told my hubby we had to go get a cat scan cause I hit so hard. I had hit it in almost the same place that I fell 40+ years ago and fractured my skull from where the spinal cord goes through the brain stem up to almost the top of my head. I was in the hospital for 5 days in Rochester and then missed 6 weeks of nurses training. It really scared me to hit my head there again. That scan was ok also. I had a stiff neck and wrenched back but not as bad as I thought it would be. That is it from me. Irish ;D
Irish--I see that no one else wrote about the Sigmoidoscopy thingy. I'll bet people know about as many of us are older on here. I guess if they didn't have IBS they didn't have do have that thing plowed down--er--up their wazoo. You positioned doggy style so the doc can aim this camera with a flexible pipe on the end of it. God, I used to scream in pain. During the test and it took a long time for the colon to settle down.
I also had the barium enemas. I couldn't stand those either and was afraid I'd explode all over the table, room and attendants. P--p all over.
So, odd as it may be, I love having a colonoscopy. I get a pretty good jag from that stuff. I even watch the screen and what the doc is doing. I try not to be too vocal, as I might say about anything. No sleeping through this stuff for me. I have a high tolerance for anesthesia and docs say they need to give me loads of it. My last colonoscopy was 5 polyps. Each time I go higher. I should never die of colon cancer like my sis tho. Good riddance to the Sigs.
Eye,
I had a barium enemas fone ONCE! That was the most humiliating thing I've ever known, it was done many years ago at an ils military hospitals using what appeared to be outdated equipment, I insisted on injecting that scope myself, there were men attentants, not that womwn would have been any better, but I just couldn't wrap my mind around the fact that big burly men were thinking they were going to do this to me.
My brother BIL had to have one, I tried to warn him so that he would be more prepared, well he didn't go in detail, either os us did, but he said he got so shook up he lit a cigarrete inside the building walking down the hallway on his way out.
Unless they have changed within 20 years I don't think I will go through that again! Too avasive!
Oh I remember the barium enemas!!! Oh my, my, my...they were gosh awful! And I had the same thought while going through it so, oh please don't let that plug fly! :o ;D
Patze
Oh you guys, I remember those barium enemas. Think I had 2 or 3 of those. All I really remember is them saying "hang unto this as long as you can". Welllll, After about 30 seconds you start to have a tummy ache and you are just starting. Remember clenching your teeth and wiggling your toes and talking to yourself as in "not yet, not yet"........
Bernice, I think that the equipment that is used in the barium enema is antiquated. It is the old enema tubing at its worst. Irish ;D
I'm grateful I survived those military doctors and hospitals! Those of you that were subjected to them prior to the early 90s know what I'm talking about! They would tell you most equipment dated back decades ago. Then you had some of those doctors standing over you scratching their heads with their medical books open searching for answers, looking back and forward from you and the books with a puzzled look on the face.
I have been blessed to chance up on some good ones from time to time, in fact I was first dxed at one.
I still go to the ER sometimes if it's nothing life threatening and not on a day many actives are trying to get out of work.
You can trust that if that procedure was bad for you it was 10 times worst for me, for one thing privacy was not a major concern then. I recall having those 2 soldiers standing over me laughing while explaining how this was going to go down. I told them I think NOT, if that thing had to go there I was going to be the ONLY one to do it otherwise it ain't happening! Could you at least turn around while I do it!
IT WAS HORRIBLE MOSTLY FOR THAT REASON AND THE FACT I WAS NOT USED TO ATTENTION IN THAT AREA! ::) ::)
My first papsmear was a nightmare too, but that's another story!
I just had a sigmoidoscopy in December---no anesthesia--but did the whole Golytely prep. I HATE that stuff. It gave me the RUNS, for a whole day AFTER the procedure. Had to take Imodium to stop the spasms. Next time I'll go back to using Fleets, no matter what they recommend.
The doc said the procedure would last 5 minutes. Yes, it was quick, and was pretty uncomfortable, but not traumatic, thank goodness.
All because of bloating, cramping, spasms, etc. They did 2 biopsy samples, and everything was negative.
Calli