This is me on the Staten Island Ferry, May 2003

Making up and cleaning up the mess

Well, I got through the test and after a few days I am just about feeling back to normal. I did not like that doctor one bit. The whole thing isn't supposed to be that painful! I'm using another doctor next time. As for my friend Fortune, we made up. As I suspected, she was never in the hospital; instead she was having a personal crisis with her son. My father is going to be harder to reconcile with. He knew I was desperate for someone to accompany me to the doctor's for the colonoscopy; the medical team reserves the right not to do the test unless you arrive with some one to take you home. I begged him to come with me; he knows all this, that I was alone, and still he refused to help me. What's worse is he doesn't think he did someone wrong. He feels I was wrong to be so angry with him. I just hope you guys don't have my experience. If the shoe had been on the other foot and I had refused to take him for the test he would have killed me--and he would have been right. (Thank God the doctor took me for the test even though I was there alone.) Anyway, on a brighter note, I am going to see Liza Minnelli in concert with Ben Vereen tonight at Westbury Music Fair on Long Island (NY)! I am so excited. She is talented but not as much as her mom was. Well guys, that's it for now; please take care and get tested for anything you might need to be tested for--it's painful but the peace of mind and prevention is highly worth it!

Please learn from my experience, guys!

Hello friends! Unfortunately, the test was a disaster. My friend--now ex-friend Fortune--cancelled out to take me at the last minute and I was very concerned that the office wouldn't give me the colonoscopy without someone to take me home. Then my father refused twice to take me for the test knowing all this! I have a rotten father who beat me with his belt strap countless times when I was young so this is nothing new. I am refusing to tell him the results of the test. The test hurt LIKE HELL (which is NOT supposed to happen) and they are doing biopsies. They are hoping the whole thing is just stress but I have to call about the tests they are running. They think I may have siliac disease but it's probably stress. I am furious at the doctor for putting me to sleep during the procedure--he had promised he wouldn't. (The doctor's version is that I was not staying still enough when I was awake so he had to put me under--but, conveniently, the doctor added that the drugs also created an amnesia so of course conveniently I wouldn't ever have remembered that. Yeah, sure. I am posting this so you learn to choose doctors more carefully than I did. Please ask the doctor who gives you the referral, as well as the doctor who will do the procedure, what exactly will happen. If ever anyone wants to talk before they have their first colonoscopy I will be happy to help you as best as I can!

The "C" word

Tomorrow morning I'm having a real thrill: my first colonoscopy. I'm 42 and the doctors think I have colitis. But that's not actually the real purpose of this post. I'm writing to encourage everyone who reads this to ask their doctors if they need a colonoscopy. This is an important test (however unpleasant and incovenient it may be) that can literally save lives. A colonoscopy on my father saved his life when they discovered he had colon and liver cancer. The surgical team was able to save his life just in time. Moreover, even though they say the test is really unpleasant, I can think of worse. My doctor gave me a laxative that only required a single day of "prepping" myself for the test. Today I could only drink clear liquids; I took the laxative this evening and it worked fine. Yeah, yeah, you have the runs, but it beats cancer! Get the test if you need it! It could have saved the life of the mother of a friend of mine. She didn't get tested; and then it was just too late. She lost her life to cancer. Well, that's it! Wish me luck tomorrow morning and please think about this post!