(I’m away from the blog today for my semi-decennial
colonoscopy. To hold you over, here's a post I wrote for my previous blog, From the Home Office, upon a similar
occasion ten years ago. Nothing has changed.)
Among the “benefits” of being fifty-one years old and the
owner of a hemorrhoid and family history of colon cancer is the necessity for
occasional colonoscopies. (For those of you not well versed in the intricacies
of invasive medical procedures, a colonoscopy involves sending a fiber optic
tube approximately 75 feet up your ass to take pictures of your innards. Think
I exaggerate? It wasn’t your asshole.)
The first impression I got of yesterday’s procedure was the
warning that the laxative I had to drink should be ingested through a straw,
“to get it past the taste buds.” Doesn’t that sound promising? I hadn’t tasted
anything this nasty since Lady Voldemort and I went our separate ways.
There’s more to do than just drinking Liquid Plumber for
Humans. My pre-procedure fast lasted forty-two hours. That’s a long time for a 240-pound man. Calling
it a “fast” is a misnomer; time had not moved this slowly since I left Lady
Voldemort. (I know, that’s two paragraphs in a row. Having things shoved up my
ass must bring her to mind.)
Forty-two hours doesn’t seem like much compared to Gandhi’s
hunger strikes, but look at the context. Gandhi didn’t weigh a
buck-twenty-five, even if his diaper was wet. I need twice as much food just to
maintain weight. Plus, food obviously takes a more elevated place in my
pantheon of pleasures than his. (That’s why I weigh 240, right?)
Aside from that, what did Gandhi eat, and how much of a
sacrifice was it to skip three, four, or fifty meals? To me, anything eaten
that doesn’t have at least some meat in it is a snack, not a meal. My
relatively brief fast allowed cattle to sleep easier than anything since the
advent of Chick Fil-A.
So it’s the morning of the procedure. I’m starving, and my
butt’s been wiped more times than Tom Cruise has been asked to come out of the
closet. I talk to the doctor for a few minutes, and he steps out of sight and
gets quiet. For all I know he left the room. Just about the time I start to
wonder when the hell they’re going to get this show on the road, the nurse
offers me something to drink.
 |
| Not my colon. At least I don't think so. Hard to tell from this angle. |
Maybe. Problem is, did I get scoped at all? Sure, they gave
me color pictures. What difference does that make? Could you pick your colon
out of a photo array? For all I know, they could have played tic-tac-toe on my
bare ass with felt-tipped pens. It’s not like I can see back there.
It’s all about trust. (Let’s face it, if pulling down your
pants and allowing strangers to knock you out without any supervision isn’t all
about trust, I don’t know what is.) The good news is that recent advances in
technology have allowed them to make the fiber optic tubes both longer, and
more flexible. So now I not only know my colon is clean, I don’t have any
cavities, either.
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