Well, I was wrong. About the doc. He decided to not be conservative, but aggressive. So I'm getting a colonoscopy on Friday morning. This is not good, 'cause I'm on call this weekend, and I need to get some hours in. Anyway, it will happen, of course, regardless of the call situation. I can't think of any but the most dire of circumstances that would prevent me from taking call. In fact, I should be able to go back to work a few hours afterwards, I believe. I could be wrong about that, though. I was right on the diagnosis, or at least the doc agreed with me, it's some form of colitis. The question is, what kind? Bacterial, viral, ulcerative... what is the cause, that will be key in the treatment. And I am feeling quite a bit better today, even after the doc did the digital exam... which hurt like hell. Quite a bit like getting kicked in the gonads... which has been what every attempted BM has felt like ever since this started. The reason that it's gonna be Friday instead of tomorrow is that everyone was too busy today to let me know what the prep was so I could get started on it today. The prep is 24 hours of clear liquids and two 1.5 oz doses of sodium phosphate. Fun, fun fun! Actually, the prep isn't all that bad, there are a lot of worse things that can happen to a guy... I can attest to that, I've personally had a lot worse things happen to me! All of this has really worn me down, though. I feel like I could sleep for a week. But I can't, dammit, I have to get up and go to work tomorrow, at least until about 13:00. I'm supposed to take the prep at 11:00 in the morning, but I'm not gonna take it at work, that would be disastrous. I'll come home and be miserable, I can't imagine that I would be of any help at work at all! Then I take the second dose at 19:00, that won't be a problem... then I'll go to bed at 21:00 and get up at 06:00 and be in the hospital at 07:00. I need to find someone to start an IV on me before I go upstairs... I trust my coworkers to not hurt me. And the preop people use a local to numb up the injection site... which hurts a whole bunch more than a quick stick. Unfortunately, the preop people feel insulted when a hspital employee comes up there with an IV already in. What can you say? Sorry, I just didn't want you guys to hurt me? That didn't go over very well when I had my knee done.... Clear liquids for 24 hours. That's rough, let me tell you. So I made Karen go with me to Taco Villa this evening... they're the next best thing to Taco Tico, which had some fire damage a month or so ago and still hasn't re-opened, damn 'em. I will get to eat breakfast in the morning, probably a bowl of oatmeal, before I cut off the food. Then tomorrow night after 23:00 I need to be completely NPO. Good night.