Less Hustle More Coffee

Friday afternoon here. I am back from the colonoscopy and pleased to say, no problems, and no more until ten years from now. The two days off have not been as pleasant as I’d hoped they would be but who else would expect to be productive during colonoscopy prep day and the day of? ha.

I was able to apply for a few adoption places. It may prove to be a waste in time but I felt while sitting here I should at least try, being that our disappointment was hanging over from the day before’s gain and then loss of Jasmin and Casper. I’ve accepted the “give and take back” situation and although heartbroken, all we can do is move forward in another direction. Perhaps it was a test from God to see if our faith would stand. I was shaken up by His allowance of this extreme emotional day of getting the dogs (tomorrow) and then it being taken away after we had began making plans. I most certainly had a talk with God over it. He wants us to be open and candid. I never lost faith, but I thought He would have guarded our hearts more. But I’ve decided to trust Him. I just don’t understand why it happened. We have not fully recovered but it is a “decision” to just move forward in your heart. What else can you do?

I also cannot believe it. But I have signed on for Hulu with Live TV and it comes with Disney Plus and ESPN channels. As Mom noted it did not have Hallmark channel. I noted that I had not seen The Weather Channel. But Mom is rarely here now and I don’t watch Hallmark. And to be honest, I only watched The Weather Channel when a hurricane approached the US, but now I follow storm chasers live and on YouTube which is far more exciting as they are right out there in it.

So now that we have LiveTV I feel comfortable pulling the plug on cable. I will do this one day next week. I want to give George a chance to make sure he’s happy with Hulu Live, but I think he will be. We set him up his own profile and I have mine so we can each have our own list. It has on there plenty of things (more things) that he wanted to see. I have it on my list to deal with the cable company next week.

So I at least accomplished those things yesterday.

Colonoscopy: Here’s how it went.

The prep started at 6 p.m. Thursday night. But the liquids started all day Thursday. I was allowed a light breakfast but I only about 4 bites of toast. There wasn’t anything here I really wanted. I would have had eggs but they were past the Best By date and when you have had food poisoning before you learn to be picky about dates. So a bit of toast then on to liquids. By liquids I mean: gatorade, chicken bone broth, pineapple jello, unsweet ice tea, water, coffee.

At 6 p.m. I began the first bottle of 12 SuTab pills. Wow, you take each pill with a sip of water and then finish the 16 ounces of water you started with over a 30 minute period. I could tolerate this better than the sugary drink they give you. After an hour you drank another round of 16 oz of water. A half hour after that another round of 16 oz of water. Of course during this, a series of “trips” to your nearest toiletry was in order! The pills were totally tolerable. I noted that about the time you started to feel a bit of nausea – a “trip” would then cause the feeling to subside. So the timing of the pills and water flow intake and the flow of the out take was spot on timing. I’ll take slight nausea in waves if the gag reflux and throwing up of the liquids are “a thing of the past”. I could not tolerate them and they made me ill ALWAYS during the 2nd batch. But this was doable for sure.

I went to bed around 8:30 and then up again at 1:00 to take BP Meds b/c it had to be done an hour before the 2nd prep. The second prep was at 2:00. It had to be so many hours before the procedure. I really didn’t have time to do it totally properly as I had to be completely through with water by 4 a.m. Nothing could be taken by mouth 4 hours before the surgery. So I had to rush the last glass of water and didn’t even get but half way through. I guess I should have started earlier but I miscalculated the time mainly because their instructions said to go with 5 to 8 hours before procedure and I chose 6. But honestly it didn’t give us enough time if I had to be finished by 4 with liquids, so I just rushed it a bit and I definitely think you get more nauseated doing it that way. But I made it.

I tried to catnap between “trips” and before I knew it, it was time to get up, shower, and head out. And before I knew it George was sitting next to me and a nurse was waking me up asking me what I wanted to drink. Coke. I already had pictured it.

Then George took me to Chic Fil A for a chicken biscuit (drive thru) and coffee. The coffee, as badly as I wanted it was pretty strong for my stomach at that moment and when I got home I had to switch to water and ice tea. And bed. I slept for a couple of hours.

These things helped me through the colonoscopy prep and procedure day:

• Having planned a low key day on prep day. I could have worked and left early but I was already stressed and then had a busy weekend ahead so I took off so that I could “enjoy” my liquids day and pamper myself with doing things I wanted and liked to do.
• Having a high protein meal, like steak and veggies with rice, the night before the liquids start. Red meat just gives me a little more life in these instances.
• I used a cute whimsical coffee mug that I like to drink my drinks out of all day.
• For the prep time I used a cute nautical 16oz insulated drink cup. It was flared at the top and skinny at the bottom so while it looked like I was half way thru most of it was gone. It was illusional and that worked out!
• At prep time I played a YouTube rainy outside/fireplace inside sound scape vibe which helped ease my psyche and give me an atmosphere to appreciate.
• I used my journal chair for the pill taking/water drinking spot as it is a positive comfort spot for me in the house.
• I had everything ready to go for each next step so I could step right to it.
• I prepared my schedule and set iPhone alarms for each thing I needed to do. That way when the time came I did not have to think. I noticed the ability to think dwindled a bit. So I was glad I had everything “thought through” before it all started.
• My soft/comfy clothes were laid out already and my minimum of belongings ready to go along with address of the doc office for George so this morning would already be organized.
• Having comfortable favorite throws nearby was a must. You get cold while the prep is working it’s way through your body.
• Telling them you need a blanket when they ask you at the doc office if you are comfortable is so worth it, while they prep you, ask questions and get the IV set up.
• Realizing that after the liquid diet, doing the prep, following instructions for all that, and getting yourself to the doc office, is all the hardest part. I told myself to just enjoy the sleep. Your IV starts to feel warm, it goes up to your elbow and you think “ok the meds are in me” and just when you wonder if you should be frightened or not, you are out. Only to be awoken in what seems like the next second, and told to fart and what drink would you like? lol lol lol
• Knowing ahead what my first meal will be (usually fast food as you want it now) so the driver knows where to take you.

Today I thought I’d have been a little more productive. I did sort clothes for laundering this weekend and I made myself a mini pizza this afternoon and watched a couple of YouTube shows, but I’ve not felt like concentrating on anything or even thinking about anything. Honestly, doing this blog right now is a challenge. I just want to go lay down again. I’m sure it’s the meds clouding my mind along with the stuff they knock you out with. I hate to be Debbie Downer when George comes home but I believe he’ll find me in bed again. I had thought I might even cook dinner since I’m home but I’m tired, no appetite at the current moment, and can’t even fathom standing up and cooking right now. I don’t think I can wait til 8:30 for bedtime. I’ve just not caught up on sleep and my brain and body has not fully recharged or rid itself from the abuse, lol.

Tomorrow we get up and go watch my niece graduate. My sister says she is saving us seats which is very nice for her to do. I’m glad there will be three of us. I am never clever about parking in high traffic situations and then there is trying to get Mom up close and helping her and then parking too. I wasn’t sure I could handle it all. So I’m glad it’s the three of us going.

So I’m going to get off of here and hopefully back to my normal self and I’ll just push all these to do list items for another day as I rest. Most of them were fun things like working on the video or reading or puzzling or doing photography lessons, but my brain is not in the mood to be creative, or to learn, or to even be entertained. So off to bed I go. I am leaving you with these two things.

1. I discovered this today by accident. Frozen pineapple, ice chips and 7-up, mixed in blender. Save a bit of 7-up to pour over the slush mix. This was a slice of refreshment from heaven. I think most fruits would be good like this.

2) You have to listen to what I told Alexa after the colonoscopy. It’s only 12 seconds. But yeah, you might want to make sure you are prepared in THIS way too for your prep day. So add that to your prep list, lol.

And YES, I actually video’d me talking about the prep and colonoscopy. I did not take the cameras with me through everything though, but I recorded me as I went through each step. It’ll be an upcoming video. My goal is to inch toward getting videos out once every two weeks instead of once every three or once a month. But that is really really hard. I don’t want to keep getting behind. And my videos will eventually morph into a difference style of vlogging (with more of me in them) as we go about our week or happenings. See I’m starting to get motivated already, but I think I will still go to bed, lol.