Dreaded Colonoscopy Done

Well, I got through my colonoscopy today just fine and no polyps were found so I am feeling wonderful now that this is behind me. I was informed that I have diverticulosis which is the formation of "pouches" or "sacs" along the length of the colon. This is very common as you age. If an inflamation develops in these "pouches" it is diverticulitis. I was given an info sheet saying among other things that I should eat more fiber, drink plenty of fluids, especially water and maintain a proper weight.

As everyone says, the colonoscopy itself is a breeze. I napped through it and didn't feel a thing. The prep on the other hand is tough, although not as bad as I thought it would be. Yesterday I was on a clear liquid diet. I enjoyed jello and chicken broth and I wasn't really hungry but I found it terribly hard not to be able to eat solid food all day. At 9 am I was instructed to take 2 Dulcolax tablets. At 11 am 1 tablespoon of milk of magnesia and at 3 and 7 pm 10 ounces of magnesium citrate which tasted ok. By 2:30 it started working and it continued to work. I had to get up a number of times during the night.

I should add that I did the other tests ordered by my doctor. I had an x-ray of my shoulder done and the report showed nothing so my doctor acknowledged that it's arthritis. The dr. also had ordered a chest x-ray because he said he likes to have that on file for his patients and I could do both x-rays together. He told me to make another appointment and he would go over my blood results.

On my return visit he said my blood results were ok but that I should have a chest cat scan. The diagnostic radiology report said I had hyperinflation likely reflecting underlying COPD and recommended a cat scan. I have no breathing problems and this made no sense to me. I questioned him if he had all his patients have chest x-rays or if it was because I mentioned I had recently gotten over a flu with cough. He said the reason was because he had heard diminished breath sounds. His examination had seemed very cursory to me at the time and I was thinking I could have breathed deeper if I knew he had a concern. But I had the cat scan. I called the office to check the results and they said they would have called me if there was a problem.

With this test I could not read his prescription whether the test was to be done with or without contrast dye. I called the office and they checked with the dr. and then told me it was with the dye. At the hospital they did not use the dye and said the prescription read without. They did the test so quickly I forgot about the dye for the moment. When I told the technicians the dr. had told me with dye they asked why the test was being done and told me dye isn't really good for you and wasn't needed for this diagnosis and doctors sometimes order more than necessary. I feel my dr. has ordered unnecessary tests throughout the years and I feel I need to find a new doctor who I can trust and have a better relationship with.