My First Colonoscopy Procedure

It’s such a relief to get my first colonoscopy done and over with. Everything turned out fine. The procedure was not as bad as I had expected. Even the preparation was doable.

Two days before the procedure, I had a big dinner—grilled shrimps and steaks. The day before the procedure, I went on a liquid diet, which was challenging. Without solid food, I couldn’t focus on anything. I even had a headache. By noon, I had to take ginger ale to give my system some sugar. When the kids came home from school, my wife baked them pizza. The smell made me miserable. I shut my door and tried to sleep.

At 5 pm, I started my first dose of SUPREP. That solution worked like a charm. An hour after taking SUPREP, I ran for the toilet. The cleansing process began. After many visits to the toilet, it started to feel like anal sex: pain in the fucking ass. I set the alarm for 2:00 am in the morning to take my second dose of SUPREP. I didn’t need the alarm to wake me up because I was not sleeping. Around 3:30 am, I tried to catch some sleep, but woke up around 6:00 am.

At 6:30 am, I woke up my designated driver and got ready to head to Gastro Health for the scheduled procedure at 8:30 am. Mad kudos to Dr. Vishant A. Ramadorai and his excellent staff for making the procedure as smooth as possible. The anesthesia knocked me out almost immediately. The anesthesiologist told me to dream about a place I wanted to visit. I told him I wanted to snowboard in Colorado. Before I could start dreaming, someone called my name to wake me up. The procedure was done.

Dr. Ramadorai informed me that he removed a rectum and sent it for testing. I will need to come back in 5 years instead of 10 years. I am OK with that since the procedure was not so bad. If you are still holding out on your first colonoscopy, I recommend it. If you live in Fairfax, I highly recommend Gastro Health with Dr. Ramadorai.

After we left the endoscopy center, I told my driver, my wife, to take me to Phở Thìn. I needed a good bowl of hot soup. Because I was told not to eat any raw vegetables yet, I just ordered a small bowl with just noodles and beef. I was not impressed. The broth was dark and a bit salty. I still missed the street phở in Hà Nội. The simplicity of northern phở is so hard to find in the States. The broth was clear, savory, and piping hot. The beef was tender and juicy. I wanted to go back for more.