I've been cleansed! That's right, I've been cleansed. You may ask,"How have you been cleansed or why have you been cleansed?" I'm glad you asked so that I have a reason to tell you.
A few weeks ago a doctor decided that I should have a colonoscopy. Those who've had a colonoscopy will say, "I know it all." Those who haven't had a colonoscopy will cringe with dread.
The colonoscopy is done when it is decided that a look has to be taken inside the colon. The scope is a four foot flexible tool about the thickness of a finger. It is inserted through the anus and is slowly moved along while the specialist looks at every nook and cranny. The apparatus can show the condition of the inside of the colon and also take biopsies. The procedure takes about 30 minutes. You are given a sedative which knocks you out and you are not aware of what's going on. This is the easy part.
The cleansing is the nasty part.
In order to see anything with the scope the whole system has to be empty. And I mean empty! The term they use is "cleansed". So this afternoon I've been cleansed. Well, what in the world is cleansing? Ya don't wanna know but I'll tell ya. You are given 8 liters of a vile mixture. You drink 250 ml every ten minutes until you've consumed two liters. Shortly after consuming this mixture, you find yourself emptying out violently and quickly! You feel pretty icky drinking this concoction. You drink the other 2 liters the next morning to make sure that you are really cleansed.
Now I have to wait 26 hours before I can eat again. I can have clear liquids until midnight. The next day, nothing until the procedure is over. I have to get somebody to drive me home and stay with me for at least 24 hours.
Why go through this procedure? I'd rather know sooner than later if there is a problem. They are usually looking for cancer and colon cancer is quite curable if discovered soon enough. It's recommended that people over a certain age have a colonoscopy every five years.
So I hope that after all the cleansing, I'm a much cleaner person!
