Jell-O Day
It is Jell-O Day. Nothing but Lemon and Island Pineapple from now until tomorrow morning. Not to mention four liters of "lavage" - a substance that has been greatly improved in the past ten years. I've never had a problem with the procedure. The gastroenterologists used to be generous with the Demerol; now their anestheticians administer a drug that blocks short-term memory. It's over before you know it.
But fasting has never been my style. Not being able to do something ordinary has always fixed my attention upon the momentarily impossible. Until now. I'm not saying that a day of Jell-O will be fun. But I'll be fine. I'll run over to the Video Room and rent a pile of videos. I'll wantonly waste hours surfing the Net.
A few years ago, the doctor discovered an adenotemous tumor. Had it remained undetected, it might have killed me by now. The tumor was "sessile" - more a puddle than a projection - and the doctor couldn't remove it. I had to go to a specialist, a surgeon who had taken time off to master fiberoptics. He got it out. Until recently, this was my number-one "lucky I'm alive today and not X years ago" story. Now it's my number-two.
You're reading the number-one.
Comments
Oh, I can very recently vouch for the improvement in the lavage. In '96, I had to drink gallons of "pina colada" flavored junk. When I had a CT scan last month, I was given about 2 liters of what I named "penny water", because it tasted like flat water that had been run through a filter consisting of old pennies. Still yucky, but relatively tolerable.
Good luck with the procedure!
Posted by: Joe.My.God. | October 25, 2005 12:32 PM
Dieu dans le ciel, je suis vraiment sourd-muet. Voici votre travail pour aujourd'hui. Régénérez, George, poussez le bouton de régénération. Désolé! No GI diagnostics for me since 1975, thank God, and they were not much improved then from what the US Navy had to offer when I was stationed in Algiers in 1967 which was to say the least unpleasant. Rigid or nearly rigid colonoscopes then, umm,umm, umm, nothing like a foot or so of cold steel up the bum, eh? Is there a special word like scatology for this interest in GI diagnostics among friends?
Posted by: George | October 25, 2005 10:51 PM
I'm afraid I haven't a clue what 'lavage' is all about, but I do hope that everthing went well.
Posted by: patricia | October 26, 2005 05:52 AM
Better to eat the Jell-o at home than in the hospital, where no tray is complete without it.
I, too, hope everything went well.
Posted by: Kat | October 26, 2005 10:27 AM