Today, I had both procedures done 

Leading up to today - From Tuesday, I put myself on a no fibre diet or just scrambled or boiled egg for breakfast on white toast, for lunch scrambled egg with white rice or cheese on toast and for dinner chicken, egg noodles (boiled) and carrot ( sometimes steamed potatos aswell with no skin) 

Yesterday I started the Plenvu bowel prep, which, if I'm honest, tastes disgusting. I couldn't think of anything worse to drink I drank it alongside a glass of water to help get rid of the taste. I was told by the endoscopy department that some people drink it with a straw ( I don't know how anyone can do that) . The instructions say to drink it over 30 minutes. To me, I just wanted to drink it as quick as possible. Within 30 minutes of finishing the bowl prep, I was on the toilet, on and off for a good 2 hours. This was repeated at 6am this morning for the second dose of Plenvu bowel prep. 

I had to go through this bowel prep 4 years ago. The prep made me more sick than anything else back then, but this time around I was ok, no sickness at all.

 Putting myself on a no fibre diet and increasing my water intake from Tuesday helped this time around.

Today, leading up to this afternoon's procedure, I was in a lot of pain with internal haemorrhoids and kept feeling I needed to go to the toilet when really it was the haemorrhoids causing that sensation. I started to worry I wouldn't be able to cope with the colonoscopy procedure like 4 years ago (they tried back then, but I was in too much pain, and apparently, bowel prep wasn't good, so they cancelled the procedure). This time around, although I was in a lot of pain with the haemorrhoids, both procedures were completed. 

Endoscopy 

To start with, the nurse put a cannula in my hand, in case of any problems or in case they needed to give me a drug to relax my bowel. ( No drugs were needed, and I opted out of sedation.)

Once the cannula was in and everything explained, the doctor sprayed a numbing spray at the back of my throat, then, what was left in the bottle, he asked me to drink. My throat was numb after 1 minute. He then inserted a mouthpiece into my mouth to keep it open for the procedure. He then started the procedure, which lasted 15 minutes, and 2 biopsies were taken. Neither did biopsies hurt; in fact, I felt nothing. The worst part is the gas they put inside me to open up my upper bowel that made me feel a bit weazie, but after burping a few times whilst the camera was inside, I was ok.

Colonoscopy 

After the endoscopy, I was given a 5-minute break and then moved into another position on my side then the procedure started. The doctor inserted some numbing gel to my anus, and then I was given some gas and air to help me relax, as I was quite nervous about this procedure. Within a few seconds, the camera was inside my colon. I was at ease once it was in, knowing that he had gone past all the hemeroids without me experiencing any pain. The only discomfort I experienced was the gas in my colon when going around the bends throughout the procedure; however, once the doctor added what I would describe as hot air a few times to my colon at the start of the procedure, I was ok.

Halfway through the procedure, the discomfort was getting worse, so he asked me to turn from my left side to my back. Once I had turned position, I had no discomfort whatsoever. It was only when on the way out of my colon that he asked me to move back on my side, that I started feeling a bit of discomfort again, which went away once he had passed the bend in my colon. As well as checking my lower bowel, he also checked my appendix during the procedure. After this procedure, he told me everything was ok, apart that I had a few internal hemorrhoids.

If I have to have both procedures again, I will definitely be doing the same prep as I did, and I'll feel more relaxed before the procedure.