The Great Colonoscopy Catastrophe, or What I Was Truly Grateful For This Thanksgiving I must first emphasize that nobody has every heard of this happening and all angles had to be perfect for it to happen. Had routine colonoscopy on Nov 4. Honestly, the prep is not that bad. Went home. Everything copascetic for next 2 days. Phil out of town, but no biggy; due home Friday night. Then severe pain in butt that I thought was aggrieved hemorrhoids. Then plugged up and increasing pain. Finally had Phil take me to ER of Pella Regional Hospital on Saturday. Butt red, hard as a rock and excruciatingly painful. Ran tests. (CT with barium enema really sucks, and my palate is still ruined.) Got admitted. Genius Doctor Morgan spent all night Saturday night and half of Sunday figuring out what happened. Then came and explained with illustration. By now serious infection. On IV antibiotics 5 or 6 times daily. When sole polyp was snipped, created perforation in colon. Colon had been pumped full of gas to allow scope to maneuver. Normally, gas escapes up colon, out anus, or off in unharmful direction. In my case, however, it reflected off the peritoneal refractor (?) and pounded the hell out of my rectum, destroying considerable tissue. Infection developed and by Monday abscesses developed. Also developed pneumonia from laying down and getting fluids IV, of course. Sent to Mercy Hospital in Des Moines where Dr Cook installed 4 drains (a new record I believe), then returned to Pella Regional. Got to see sunrise from ambulance. Spent 11 days total on IV antibiotics. Killed all bacteria, good and bad. Great care prevented any colonization by unwanted bugs. Am now home and slowly recovering. 1 hospital day = 2 recuperations days. Have no energy reserves. Still managed to do half of Christmas shopping online, although sitting is not overly fun. Own eternal thanks to Dr Morgan and staff of Pella Regional. Came damn close to dying. Very thankful to be alive. Please note: no one has ever heard of this happening before. Pure fluke. Dont skip your colonoscopy because of weird occurance. Really.
Posted on: Sat, 30 Nov 2013 19:54:14 +0000
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