✔️Done

Today I joined the ranks of responsible people over the age of 45 and got my first screening colonoscopy. I scheduled a month ago and asked for the pill version because I have such an aversion to taste and texture and I had heard the liquid is thick and chalky. It turns out my insurance doesn't cover the pills and it would have been $200 to have them so I ended up with the 4 liter jug of stuff to drink. As it turns out, the stuff is not thick or chalky, it just tasted like salty lemonade. My prep began 5 days before the procedure with simple things like avoiding iron and fiber, then seeds and red or purple dyes. Then the day before my procedure I had to have only clear liquids, no food. I ended up not having food from 7PM Sunday until 11 AM today Tuesday, when they gave me saltine crackers and a Diet Coke after I woke up. So that was basically a 40 hour fast. The hardest part was forcing the prep down at the rate they wanted (8 ounces every 20 minutes). My stomach was so waterlogged and bloated feeling! I drank roughly ¾ of the jug last night then got up at 4 A.M. to finish the jug this morning. Everything went as planned, and despite the hour long drive to get to the surgery center, I made it without having to make ant pit stops! Leading up to this, I definitely started feeling a little anxiety for the upcoming perceived unpleasantness and I ate whatever I wanted over the weekend. Friday we had pizza, Saturday I had a sub with bread instead of how I usually get it, wrapped in lettuce instead of bread. Saturday night I made fish tacos with breaded filets and ate some tortilla chips. I logged over 14,000 steps on Saturday so my body used those extra calories. Sunday my husband and I took a huge walk on some hilly trails and after we had a late lunch. I ate "drunk tots" which is tater tots drenched in nacho cheese with bacon bits and sour cream. It was not as good as it sounds and made my stomach feel terrible. I ate clean that evening in preparation for my fast. My weight fluctuated between 170 and 173, then back down to 170 this morning. We did go to lunch after my procedure, i had a BLT and fries as my last bad food before getting back on track. One thing I have learned from all this is my stomach feels way better when I eat low carb. Another thing I learned is that I can totally do a 48 hour fast since I survived 40 hours with little issue. Sure, there were times when my stomach growled but it always passed after a bit. I will not do that for a couple weeks if I do try it, but it doesn't sound so overwhelming now that I have done 40 hours. My procedure was painless. The sedative they use made me feel like I was in a really great restful nap and before I knew it I was awake and ready to eat. They found 3 polyps and removed them. The vast majority of polyps are harmless but there is a small outside chance that they can be cancerous or precancerous so they sent them to pathology to be sure. I should have the results in a few days. I didn't know until recently that if you don't get colon polyps removed they have a much higher chance of becoming cancer. I had a friend who died at 47 years from colon cancer. She ignored some symptoms and by the time she had it checked out it was stage 4 and spreading. She died less than a year after her diagnosis. So I urge you to get a screening colonoscopy if you are over 45. If the results are normal you don't need another for 10 years, that's not so bad. People who have colon polyps are at a slightly higher risk of developing more, but a moderate or high carb diet is one of the contributing factors, so by eating mostly low-carb I feel confident about my chances. In a way, having them removed today sort of felt like removing the damage I did all those years of eating all those carbs. I am actually so happy to not have any restrictions on my diet now, and am looking forward to getting back to my normal eating and activities! I did join my work walking challenge for the American Cancer Society. I have walked 15.3 Mike's so far. My company made their goal of 10 million steps in the first 2 days of the challenge (there were over 600 of us participating) but we can still keep competing in order to win prizes. I think now that my body is recovering from the procedure prep, I can get back to walking more. And it is looking like it will finally warm up here so I predict lots more walks on the beach!