Category: Health

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First colonoscopy

Apparently, turning 50 activates several medical milestones.

My doctor says the colonoscopy is a rite of “passage”.

Yesterday was the prep for the colonoscopy. Everybody will tell you the prep is the worst part.

They’re all correct.

No food, only clear liquids for the whole day. Then it begins. The solution that cleans out your insides. Mine was a 4 liter jug of Gavilyte that I mixed up in the morning and let chill in the fridge. Pro tip: Before mixing, check to make sure the jug has no damage, holes, or cuts. I had filled mine half way and started shaking to mix it when stuff started leaking out. Found a cut near the handle, possibly from someone cutting too deep when unboxing.

The solution is not the most pleasant to drink, even with the included flavour packet (mine was lemon). Slightly viscous, tastes plasticky, and just down right icky. Some reviews I saw at WebMD suggested holding your nose and drinking through a straw to avoid the taste. Wish I had seen that before I started drinking.

I was only able to make it through just under half of the 4 liters of prep solution before I got to the point where it was going to start going out the way it came in. Seemed counterproductive to try to keep going at that point. The rest of the evening and night was spent sitting up in bed trying not to throw up, and napping in between trips to the bathroom. Fortunately, what I was able to get down was enough to clean out my innards well enough to go forward with the colonoscopy today.

Colonoscopy day was pretty uneventful by comparison. Arrived at the hospital, checked in, and waited a bit before they brought me back to get ready for the procedure. Then I got wheeled in to the procedure room. Closed my eyes to rest a bit while everybody was getting things ready, and then next thing I know I’m waking up and back in the bay I started in.

After about 15 minutes of waking up enough to stand and get dressed again, I was wheeled out to the main entrance where Connie was waiting with the car and two Wendy’s spicy chicken sandwiches for the drive home. After practically no food for almost two days, the chicken sandwiches really hit the spot.

Got a clean bill of colonic health, so now I don’t have to do this again for another 10 years.

Note to self: Think about adjusting my diet a few days prior to the next colonoscopy so that there’s less “stuff” left to clean out of me. That might make the prep easier.

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Mah gimpy foot followup

First, everybody thought maybe the lump on the side of my big toe left over from the sprain might be gout, or pseudo-gout. After a course of medication without any change, my doctor referred me to rheumatology. The rheumatology PA I saw was dubious about it being gout-related, especially since there wasn’t the usual pain associated with gout. Possibly some residual slow-healing damage from the sprain.

After a second follow-up appointment with the PA, I got some additional x-rays of the toe to check for anything like a stress fracture that might not have been seen with the foot x-rays.

Right toe AP
Right toe AP
Right toe Obl
Right toe Obl
Right toe lateral
Right toe lateral

Nothing obvious to my eyes, and they look pretty similar to the foot x-rays done back in July. Lump on the side of my right toe appears to be just soft-tissue related.

Looks like I just keep an eye on it now and see if it eventually heals up.

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Mah gimpy foot

I’ve been limping around on a messed up right foot for the past week since Field Day. Although the foot has gotten a little better since last week, it’s still somewhat painful to walk on and there’s still a bit of swelling going on (enough that my foot doesn’t fit into my shoe very well anymore).

Made an appointment to see the doctor, and got some x-rays on my foot. Good news is that according to the radiology report, there are no fractures and no bones out of place. Just some soft tissue swelling.

Right foot AP view
Right foot AP view
Right foot oblique view
Right foot oblique view
Right foot lateral view
Right foot lateral view

Got a referral to orthopedics so in the meantime, rest, hot/cold compresses for the swelling, and ibuprofen for the pain as needed.

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Fixing the back

The sciatica problem from last month resolved itself fairly quickly with a course of steroids and plenty of ibuprofen and I haven’t had any problems with pain since then.

Unfortunately, some leg weakness and tingling/numbness lingered on afterwards. Nothing bad enough to seriously affect my day to day activities, but abnormal and annoying.

I was able to get an MRI a couple weeks later which showed a ruptured L5/S1 disc (“Well, there’s your problem right there!”). The displaced disc material (circled in red) is pretty easy to see on the sagittal images

Sagittal MRI of Mah spine
Sagittal MRI of Mah spine

The axial image shows how the blob of disc material is pressing up against the nerves (where the left end of the red line is pointing).

Axial MRI
Axial MRI

The weakness and numbness hadn’t resolved by then, so that got me an appointment with a neurosurgeon today (four weeks later) who told me that because of the disc material pressing against the nerve, my symptoms weren’t going to get much better and that I was going to need surgery to remove the chunk of disc material.

If everything goes smoothly with the insurance approval process, I’ll be having that surgery about the middle of next week. Should be a pretty simple procedure he said and that I should be in and out with no problems. A week or so for recuperation and I should be good as new (until more disc material decides to ooze out).

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Sidelined by sciatica

Adding to the list of unlocked old age accomplishments, now I can complain about sciatica.

It started off with just a sharp pain in my lower back that made bending over difficult. Didn’t think much of it and figured it would go away in a few days.

Then the pain started radiating down my leg making bending even more difficult.

A visit to the doctor resulted in a diagnosis of left sided lower back pain with left side sciatica, and prescriptions for a muscle relaxant and steroid for inflammation.

The pain from a nerve being pinched is pretty high, and not at all pleasant. It’s quite literally a pain in the butt. And leg. And back.

Lying down helps a lot, but standing or sitting for any length of time gets to be quite uncomfortable.

I’m hoping I get over this soon because as nice as it is lying around in bed all day, the pain really sucks.

If it’s not better in a few more days, it’s back to the doctor and maybe some physical therapy for the back injury causing the sciatica.