Colonoscopy day

Thursday, February 27, 2025

Keith has been chasing a colonoscopy for more than six months. Apparently, you can’t just notice that it has been ten years since you had one and make an appointment. You have to see a doctor first. But you can’t get a doctor’s appointment for months. I do not know why. Prior to pandemic, we could, but now we can’t. So, after seeing the doctor and getting a referral, he tried to make an appointment. They do not do them in Woodbury, so he tried a couple towns away. They were booked too far out and were not scheduling any more appointments. He tried a state away. He got an appointment in 3 months. Two months later, they called to reschedule, out another 6 weeks. Today was finally the day!

He got up at 4am to drink the last of the goo. He said it is much less gooey than it was ten years ago, and it was not horrible. He tried to go back to sleep, but no. My alarm was set for 5:37 or something like that because we needed to leave at quarter after six to get to River Falls, WI by 7am. I did not plan to shower, but figured I could have a little something to eat. I got dressed and ate a pear and was ready to go. We had our shoes and coats on, and Keith compulsively pulled the paper with his notes from the hospital from his pocket and read them again. We were supposed to go to door 19, the front entrance, but he was worried we wouldn’t be able to find it. He looked at the paper, then said, “I’m sorry.”
“What?”
He held up the paper and from across the kitchen I could read the top line (written in Sharpie) Arrival 8am

Huh. The second line said, “Nothing by mouth 7am”. That’s where the 7am came in. We were a bit early. He slept in the chair. I tried, but I was up. I could have showered, but I didn’t think it was worth it. When I got to the hospital and all the people were at work and looking normal and I looked…um…bad, I thought I should have reconsidered. Oh well.

He was third on the schedule. They rolled him away and I looked at my phone. I read an article about the worst intersections for crashes in Woodbury. The doctor came in and said he was all good, come back in 10 years. Yay. The door opened a moment later and I heard a grumbly sound, and Keith was rolling back in. I thought the cart motor (In my imagination there was a grumbly cart motor) was making the noise, but it was Keith snoring.

They woke him up a bit, then left while he got more with it. I had a very comfy spot leaning against the wall and on the bed rail where he could see me when he could get his eyes open.

“Did I come back?”
“Yes, you are back. You were snoring. I thought you were the cart motor.”
Sweet smile. Eyes closed. Eyes open.
“I’m so tired. I bet they won’t let me sleep here all day.”
“No. That would be nice, though. At least for a couple hours. The doctor said everything was good and you can come back in 10 years.”
Sweet smile. Eyes closed. Eyes open.
“They talked to me.” He lifted his head an inch and pushed the pillow down. “I said I can’t hear with my good ear down.”
“That makes sense. Did you tell them you have a hearing aid?”
Sweet smile. Eyes closed. Eyes open.
“Did you wait for me?”
“Yes, I did. Right here in this room. You were gone for about 20 minutes.”
Sweet smile. Eyes closed. Eyes open.
“Am I back?”
“Yes.”
Lift the head and push the pillow. “They talked to me and I couldn’t hear without moving the pillow. I told ’em.”
Sweet smile. Eyes closed and then open.
“Did you wait for me here?”
“Yep.”
“I wonder when I will hear the answers.”
“You mean the results? The doctor said everything was good and to come back in ten years.”
“That’s very good.”
Smile
“Were you okay waiting for me?”
“Yep. It was about 20 minutes, then the doctor came in.”
“Oh! She did? What did she say?”
“Come back in ten years.”
“I’m happy. And so tired.”

I was definitely figuring out the short term memory was not functioning at this time. I think I counted nine check-ins on me waiting for him (even zonked he is always worrying about me), 6 stories about moving the pillow, and 5 surprise results. He eventually woke up and we were on our way home. After a big nap for both of us, things were pretty much back in order.

We got the game Flip 7 from Barnes & Nobel today – it was finally back in stock. We went over to play with Tom and Louise (with ME driving, for safety) (but really, with me driving, was that safety?) because we were so excited to share with them. We each won a game, and it was a wonderful Thursday night.