Hello my fellow blog readers. How are you doing? I was absent last week. I had so much going on getting ready for my colonoscopy/endoscopy on Thursday. The prep for the colonoscopy was horrible, HORRIBLE!!!! I even started 4 hours earlier than the instructions indicated. My aide changed me every hour from 12pm-6am. I was physically and mentally exhausted. Thankfully I had an early appointment. Unfortunately, I knew I wasn’t cleaned out. A very easy indicator was that the stool color wasn’t clear. It was brown, very brown. I didn’t understand how it could be possible. I was having all my gastric issues days leading up to my colonoscopy prep. How could anything be left? Yet, as I found out from my doctor, there was a significant amount left. I was so upset hearing the news that the nurses and my doctor were trying to console me. I had the most horrible 24 hours and it wasn’t enough. How could it possible??

When you wake up from anesthesia, you are a little foggy. I was being cleaned up by 3 nurses and my own aide. I was very confused and there was a lot of movement happening. It was the nurse that first told me I wasn’t cleaned out. I immediately came to my senses to understand what that meant. I became visibly upset. The nurses were so lovely trying to make me feel better. They really did everything to console me. They just didn’t understand what it was for me to go through that prep, having no sleep and being so exhausted for nothing. Everything is an uphill battle for me. I just can’t have an easy road to anything. By the time the doctor walked in, I was absolutely distraught, actually not distraught disgusted with the difficulties I always have. He said he was surprised as well it wasn’t cleaned but he did get biopsies from both colonoscopy/endoscopy and we will see the results. He felt bad I was so upset.

My doctor called me later that day but I was sound asleep. He called me again the following day to check on me. He wanted me to know that he did clean the area out as best he could. He doesn’t believe he saw anything that I need to be worried about like cancer. He felt fairly sure he got through the whole colon. There isn’t a 100% guarantee but he felt comfortable saying he was sure enough. He spoke with other doctors in his office and decided he wanted to treat me for C-diff.

Clostridium difficile colitis results from disruption of normal healthy bacteria in the colon, often from antibiotics. C. difficile can also be transmitted from person to person by spores. It can cause severe damage to the colon and even be fatal.

https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/pseudomembranous-colitis/symptoms-causes/syc-20351434?utm_source=Google&utm_medium=abstract&utm_content=Clostridium-difficile-colitis&utm_campaign=Knowledge-panel

My stool sample in August showed negative for this. In October, I was negative for it being active but positive for the toxins that I had C-diff in the past. Curing my gastric issues might be trial and error unless something comes from the biopsies. Today I started my 10 day course of vancomycin.

By the way, the reason I wasn’t cleaned out was due to multiple sclerosis issues. Since I have no control over my muscles in the anus region, I couldn’t push. I could only wait until it came out on its own. My body needs more time to get rid of its excrements because of this than a normal person. It just didn’t register until the following day. Hopefully this helps anyone else who ever needs to prepare for this test.