Help wanted (Score so far related)

[msnobody]

Prepping in style. 🩷 propofol and a warming blanket.

[Jersey Girl]

Prepping in style. 🩷 propofol and a warming blanket.

Yummy stuff that propofol is! And the warming blanket? Sign. me. up.

[Jersey Girl]

Reporting in!

Not sure where to start with this. I'll let my fingers do the talking. Just keep in mind that I waited for like 6 months for this day to happen.

preparation review: One bottle of the two-step process was enough for me. I did wake up and drink most of the second step but one would have been sufficient. Think that has something to do with my being snack size. They'd give two bottles to a 200 pound guy. I am not a 200 pound guy. I bailed on finishing the second dose because it took me so long to drink it and I was getting past the "No drink dead line". I knew I didn't need it anyway so I dumped what was left. I was able to doze off here and there but never truly slept. Fairy lights are important.

See? I didn't write gory details.

Hospital experience: It was like 2 degrees here when we left out but showed up on time. We're blessed to have 2 hospitals within about 10-15 minutes from the house. I prayed the whole way there. Once registration was done with me and handed me over to the gastro part, the whole thing was like going through a Chik Fil A drive through. Talk about efficient. The nurse was SO good to describe every little detail to me so I knew exactly what to expect step by step. While she's talking the other nurse is doing the IV part. Anesthesia guy came in to talk about his part and then the doc. Pretty much what one would expect I think. They let me keep my cute pink and navy polka dot knee socks on.

Off to the procedure suite or whatever it's called. Anyway...this is all happening at the same time. Doc says hello again, they put a mouthpiece in, and push the propofol all at the same time. Usually it takes a bit of time for propofol to kick in. Not this time! I'm telling you...that guy had me down and gone in less than 30 seconds.

Woke up with the warming blankets on again. I had my own blankie with me so I think the Boy put that on top of the warming blanket. Who knows? Coming out of propofol takes a while. I can hear and think before I can speak and there's gaps in my memory. Anyway...doc comes in and tells me about his fantastic voyage into my body and all.

And if I had written this post yesterday I would've been typing and crying up from my actual gut...

...my GOOD GUT. My GOOD GUT WITH NOTHING SERIOUSLY WRONG WITH IT!!!!!!

I had to stop for a moment while he was talking to put my head down in my hands in prayer and thank God!

I had no idea what the outcome could be. I'm sure I've listed all the worst case scenarios I could think of on this very thread. Doc took some biopsies in a few places. So here are the results. If you read this thread you'll have heard some of this before because turns out I was right about something and I will bold that part. Okay, I know. If you throw a zillion darts you're gonna hit something eventually. I know...just read, okay?

My stomach lining showed some irritation signaling gastritis. See? I was right about that. (Stop it with the darts already, I know sheesh.) He said "a little irritation". He wasn't concerned. Anyway, he wants me to do an office appointment with him to discuss if he wants to or if I want him to do anything more like gastric emptying test. I think that's the one where you drink the smart pill and it watches how your digestive system works. I told him my digestion was normal now but I look forward to being able to ask follow up questions and let him inform me further. When I asked him what he thought happened to me he figured what happened to me was gastritis. Later as we talked about eating habits and sleep...he said that it sounded like I had PTSD from the heart rhythm disorder. I have been telling my people that for years now. The weight loss could easily be from a slow decline in my dietary intake. He agreed with that and offered that stress (post traumatic stress included) can trigger gastritis. We'll talk more about that.

Anyway, do another round of scopes in 5 years. I don't actually expect to be alive in 5 years but it's nice to know the doc isn't concerned about me.

I would be less than honest here if I didn't say that I cried tears of relief and gratitude all the way home. I kept saying what I had been saying what feels like forever now. I will put it at the end of this post because it's important to me to include it here. When I got home and made a cup of tea I put on a praise song that I love and sang it. Twice. From my gut. My good gut. Thanking the Lord for His provision and my good gut. I made and ate a small stack of pancakes then napped for the next 4-5 hours. Man, was I tired!

If I am reading my portal stuff right the biopsy results are in and....No malignancies. No h pylori. No celiac disease...everything they tested for was a "no" right on down the list. Just that evidence of gastritis and I am sure we'll talk about that in the follow up. I do have a managed autoimmune thing and that can cause it. I'll find out more at the follow up. If I'm wrong about the portal thing I will say so here. I think final report means final report?

Here are the words I've repeated daily and the whole entire drive to the hospital, just before the propofol, just after the results and all the way home. And I'll probably never stop saying them because they are reminders for me.

Be of good courage.
Be anxious for nothing.
You will never leave me.
No one can pluck me out of your hands.
I will run and not faint.
You are He.

"Even to your old age and gray hairs I am he, I am he who will sustain you. I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you."~ Isaiah 46: 4

[msnobody]

So very thankful you got good results and that the ole ticker behaved for the procedure(s). Now I know how to do colonoscopy preparation [discussion board changed this word from p r e p] with style. There will be fairy lights in the plan for 2030.

[Imwashingmypirate]

Aww I'm so pleased Jersey Girl. Nothing sinister going on is great. But also pleased that you have an answer too and hopefully that means you can help treat it and soothe it.

I'm pretty sure you will still be here on 5 years you better be.

[Jersey Girl]

So very thankful you got good results and that the ole ticker behaved for the procedure(s). Now I know how to colonoscopy preparation [discussion board changed this word from p r e p] with style. There will be fairy lights in the plan for 2030.

I didn't even ask him about my heart! I was too stunned listening to what he was saying. I waited a long time for these procedures so of course (this is the true me as if you can't tell by this whole entire thread) I had nothing but time to come up with every possible outcome I could think of from the not so bad to the catastrophic. To sit there and hear what he said, probably almost my very best thought out outcome, and the doc is really saying it? I was absolutely floored. Like I was thinking okay that's nice when's he going to get to the cancer part? But he never did. He wasn't concerned about anything he discovered. What a relief!

Fairy lights are a must! Get the ones at Walmart--I think Mainstays. I put them on the mirror with double sided clear silicone tape so it was all sparkly! You just really need that!

[Jersey Girl]

Aww I'm so pleased Jersey Girl. Nothing sinister going on is great. But also pleased that you have an answer too and hopefully that means you can help treat it and soothe it.

I'm pretty sure you will still be here on 5 years you better be.

Thank you! Yes, nothing ugly going on and the thing is that the symptoms are gone now so...I don't know. I do want to do that follow up with him because Lord knows I'll come up with questions as ideas come to me.

About the 5 years... Nicky, I never in my life imagined I would live to be the age I am right now. I'm at least 5 years past my perceived expiration date. Both my parents died at relatively young ages. My siblings think and feel the exact same way. We have different mothers but their mother died young, too. I was talking to my youngest sister a couple of months ago about some ideas for my estate stuff. She said she'd be happy to do what I asked except for the fact that she was going to be dead long before I was. She's 10 years younger than me. See? If you're us...you know you're not going to live another day and yet, here you still are. The good part about that is you try to find something to appreciate in every day that you have.

I'll try to be here! When I do croak out, you'll know. The whole board will.

[msnobody]

Aww I'm so pleased Jersey Girl. Nothing sinister going on is great. But also pleased that you have an answer too and hopefully that means you can help treat it and soothe it.

I'm pretty sure you will still be here on 5 years you better be.

Thank you! Yes, nothing ugly going on and the thing is that the symptoms are gone now so...I don't know. I do want to do that follow up with him because Lord knows I'll come up with questions as ideas come to me.

About the 5 years... Nicky, I never in my life imagined I would live to be the age I am right now. I'm at least 5 years past my perceived expiration date. Both my parents died at relatively young ages. My siblings think and feel the exact same way. We have different mothers but their mother died young, too. I was talking to my youngest sister a couple of months ago about some ideas for my estate stuff. She said she'd be happy to do what I asked except for the fact that she was going to be dead long before I was. She's 10 years younger than me. See? If you're us...you know you're not going to live another day and yet, here you still are. The good part about that is you try to find something to appreciate in every day that you have.

I'll try to be here! When I do croak out, you'll know. The whole board will.

I’ve tasked another poster with announcing my passing on the discussion board and with telling posters that she really did love you guys like she said, whenever that time comes. He has my permission at that time to reveal my in real life identity. So, if that doesn’t happen maybe someone can have words with him.

[Jersey Girl]

I'll try to be here! When I do croak out, you'll know. The whole board will.

I’ve tasked another poster with announcing my passing on the discussion board and with telling posters that she really did love you guys like she said, whenever that time comes. He has my permission at that time to reveal my in real life identity. So, if that doesn’t happen maybe someone can have words with him.

I have an um...arrangement, too. Which reminds me. I need to remind the person who initiates it. It's a terrible kind of helpless feeling when someone we know just disappears. For those of us who have been around a good long while, this is our online community and it really is a community. If anyone doubts that, just look at all the folks who posted on this thread when I needed help. I appreciate that so much I can't even tell you.

[Marcus]

I’ve tasked another poster with announcing my passing on the discussion board and with telling posters that she really did love you guys like she said, whenever that time comes. He has my permission at that time to reveal my in real life identity. So, if that doesn’t happen maybe someone can have words with him.

I have an um...arrangement, too. Which reminds me. I need to remind the person who initiates it. It's a terrible kind of helpless feeling when someone we know just disappears. For those of us who have been around a good long while, this is our online community and it really is a community. If anyone doubts that, just look at all the folks who posted on this thread when I needed help. I appreciate that so much I can't even tell you.

Absolutely, a community. A couple people in my family, when they found out what this board is called, came down hard on me, saying I was not helping myself talking to anyone about "Mormonism".

In response, I have been relaying a few of our widely varied topics here; the latest was quoting this little philosophical gem from the short story posted for us from a longtime contributor:

"I had just found a seat when what could only be described as a bespectacled wisp of a man had taken the podium and was struggling with an uncooperative laptop. This signaled the heraclitean damnation of Panta Rhei; accompaniment by PowerPoint. In anticipation I had begun to wonder if someone in the room had just solved the Lament Configuration and Pinhead himself was soon to arrive."

I think they are getting the point. This is a community.

Anyway, so glad all went well and the test results were so positive, Jersey Girl! (or....GG* Jersey Girl!! )

*Good Gut. Or, for our resident grammar police, 'good-gutted'??