Today's fasting and cleansing regimen brings me back to the early days of my cancer adventure.
During the prep for my first colonoscopy in March, I got an urgent, unexpected call from City of Hope, "You need to check in [to Hotel Hope] as soon as possible so that we can start the hydration for your chemo." George made a mad dash from downtown LA so that he could get me to the hospital on time. I was in a panic that I'd need to make a mad dash to the bathroom during our one-hour trek to CoH on the rush-hour-congested 210 Freeway.
After I arrived (accident free), the nurses hooked me up to an IV. I had a few hours to finish off my gallon jug of cleansing GoLytyely, which meant that I had to chug 8 ounces of the vile-tasting liquid every fifteen minutes. When nature started calling, I had to dance my IV pole partner into the bathroom with me every 15 minutes. Aaah, the memories. Talk about crazy, sexy cancer.
Today, I'm thankful for a number of things. I have the luxury of being in the comfort of my own home during the fasting and cleansing. I'm not strapped to my omnipresent pole partner. And this time around I requested Fleet Phospho-soda instead of the GoLytely regimen. For the benefit of you youngsters under age 50 or any of you reluctant over-50 readers, you take two doses of Fleet versus 16 glasses of the vile stuff. It's no contest. (Kind of like that blood warmer in the harvesting room - you gotta know about it to ask for it.)
I'm also thankful that I was able to schedule the colonoscopy for 2:00 pm tomorrow. At first, the scheduler told me (and my coordinating nurse) that the first available appointment was two and a half weeks away on October 24. I explained that Dr. Forman had scheduled me for my colonoscopy follow-up appointment on Thursday, and the next thing I know I'm booked for Wednesday.
What are you thankful for? For starters, you must be grateful that I didn't try to find an illustration to go with today's post.
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