My DH has prostate cancer

Thanks y'all.....:flowers:

We got the letter from the doctor and it started off with..."I recently had the pleasure of performing a colonoscopy for ...." :blink:

:LOL:
 
bbbamI said:
Thanks y'all.....:flowers:

We got the letter from the doctor and it started off with..."I recently had the pleasure of performing a colonoscopy for ...." :blink:

:LOL:
Click to expand...

I guess the scenery was breathtaking!
Congratulations to DH!
 
It's always good when the doc posts a positive trip report!
 
bbbamI said:
Thanks y'all.....:flowers:

We got the letter from the doctor and it started off with..."I recently had the pleasure of performing a colonoscopy for ...." :blink:

:LOL:
Click to expand...

After mine I even persuaded my doc to write a note to DW that "No, his head is not in there after all....":LOL:

Happy to hear everything is going well!
 
bbbamI said:
DH's colonoscopy report came back and it was good news. He won't have to have another one until 2016. :)

Total cost of colonoscopy....$4800. :p Fortunately with our insurance we didn't have to pay a dime. I can't even imagine how much the entire bill will be for his PC treatment.
Click to expand...

bbbamI - so happy to hear this came back OK. Geez, DH and I really need to have this test...we're at that age but in haven't had it done yet. You have inspired us. Huggs to you and DH.
 
bbbamI said:
Thanks y'all.....:flowers:

We got the letter from the doctor and it started off with..."I recently had the pleasure of performing a colonoscopy for ...." :blink:

:LOL:
Click to expand...

My letter said "What an A$$hole!"
 
bbbamI said:
DH's colonoscopy report came back and it was good news. He won't have to have another one until 2016. :)

Total cost of colonoscopy....$4800. :p Fortunately with our insurance we didn't have to pay a dime. I can't even imagine how much the entire bill will be for his PC treatment.
Click to expand...
Glad to hear that he is OK there. But that is a huge amount of money-I got one that I had to pay for a few years ago and as I remember it was about $850.

It takes very little time. Your guy's rate must be at least $10,000/hr.

And we wonder why medical insurance costs so much:confused:

Ha
 
I had one 2 years ago. As I had a $10K deductible HSA, I had to pay for the entire cost. Paid around $700, I think.
 
The cost is probably proportional to the ease of access.
 
NW-Bound said:
I had one 2 years ago. As I had a $10K deductible HSA, I had to pay for the entire cost. Paid around $700, I think.
Click to expand...

My insurance will give me a free one every 10 years under their wellness benefit. My last one showed no problems so I'm going the 10 year route, plus no family history of colon problems. Next one.......2017.:blink:

Yes, good news bbb. You guys drink one on me tonight.
 
FWIW, if I had a colonoscopy, the physician doing it would get $176.35. Of course, there would be the sedation, nursing time, and sterilization of the colonoscope, which would be part of the hospital budget and for which I have already paid in my taxes.
 
I'm new here and just saw this thread. I am a 2 year PCa survivor - I was diagnosed at age 40 and had the DaVinci robotic surgery 18 months ago. All going well thus far.

The best PCa message board I found was the Healing Well site.

Prostate Cancer - HealingWell.com Forum

Very supportive folks, lots of good info. Definitely of similar quality to the what I've witnessed here in regards to insightful help.

Good luck and keep up that positive attitude!
 
Ehhhh...I knew I shouldn't have mentioned expenses with this [-]anal[/-] financial crowd.....;)

The total cost of the colonoscopy was around $4800...our insurance paid about $2400 as contracted. This is like Dawg's insurance in that it's considered a wellness benefit and there was no cost to us.

oh...btw, thank you hornet99 for your well wishes, sharing your experience and the link. I'm so proud you're doin' well. :flowers:
 
DH was supposed to go to the 'radioactive' doc this morning, but the weather is naughty. His appt will be rescheduled soon. Meanwhile he showed me this [-]tail[/-] tale of his colonoscopy. :LOL:


My Colonoscopy

The instructions from the doc for this procedure are quite detailed. They tell you what you can and can’t eat. Of course “food” is on the DO NOT EAT list. I can have all of the green and yellow Jello and chicken bullion cubes I can eat (“eat” is used here in the academic sense), plus water and clear sodas. Oh boy! They also tell you “things” you have to do.

DAY ZERO

It started with a trip to the drug store to get what I’m now calling the “kolonoskopy kit”. Like the K’s? This kit is used to get you “clean as a whistle”. The main part of the kit is stuff they call “HalfLytely”. Nice Name. I wonder how many conference calls it took to decide on that name? I’m sure those were interesting discussions. I wonder what HalfLytely means? I don’t think it’s anything happy. HalfLytely is a plastic jug that holds about 50 gallons and you mix up this stuff with water and you have to drink all of it in about 2 minutes. There is a choice of flavor packets (I’m stretching here). I can pick cherry, pineapple, orange or lemon-lime. It also came with one tablet that said “delayed release”. Now I’m beginning to get concerned. I wonder when that will kick in? I’m sure it won’t be a convenient time.

When I went to pick up the kit, the pharmacist had trouble finding my prescription. Apparently he didn’t know that it was a 50 gallon sized package. After he used a forklift to put it on the counter he said “That will be 74 dollars.” Holy crap! Talk about flushing money down the toilet!

The other part of the kit is this stuff called magnesium citrate. This is the backup plan in case the 50 gallons of HalfLytely don’t get the job done. The instructions from the doc said if your insides are not completely outside of your body after the HalfLytely, drink the magnesium citrate. I remember this from the last colonoscopy experience. I figured since it says “citrate” that’s like lime or lemon, right? Kerosene with a hint of lemon peel is more like it.

I have my last meal this evening. I savor every bite for it may be my last.

DAY ONE

This is prep day. At 2pm I have to start drinking the 50 gallons of HalfLytely. The anticipation is killing me and it’s not from excitement. I have coffee and green Jello for breakfast. If someone were to ask me what the color green tasted like it would be green Jello. Yellow Jello and chicken bullion are picked from the menu for lunch. The bullion is not half bad. Notice I didn’t say half good. I have a banana popsicle for desert to take the edge off.

The instructions for the HalfLytely say you can refrigerate it to make it easier to drink. How nice. They should have put a smiley face on the package. I managed to get the 50 gallon container in the fridge last night. I take the delayed action tablet and I start on the HalfLytely at 2pm. The instructions say to drink some of it every 15 minutes until its gone. I had picked the orange flavor packet. If I close my eyes and think about oranges I can almost sense the orange flavor on top of it’s natural pig spit flavor. This stuff is supposed to start working in 1-6 hours. The lower estimate was just about correct and there was little warning. I find myself confined to a small room for the afternoon and early evening. Every so often this nice lady comes by to check on me but I can’t leave the room. She asks if I need anything. I said a seat belt would be useful. I carve the passing hours into the wall and wonder what would have happened if this product had been called FullLytely or HalfHeavyly.

About 7pm the HalfLytely activity has mostly stopped. I can now leave the small room for short periods of time and go to the kitchen where I can look at the food I might have tomorrow, assuming I live until then. The good news is I don’t need the backup plan. I won’t tell you how I knew this. I take great pleasure in pouring the magnesium citrate down the drain where I’m sure it will eliminate the need for me to call a plumber for the next five years.

DAY TWO

Procedure day. I go to the doc’s place about 8am. I check in and wait in a cold waiting room and fill out about 30 different forms with information they already have. They give me a pager that will go off when they are ready for me. “Mr. M.., party of one - your surgical table is now ready.” I get paged and go to the ready room where I’m told to remove my dignity but I can leave my socks on. A nurse comes in and sticks me with an IV. She does a good job, I hardly felt it. Things are looking up. The anesthetist comes by and wheels me to the procedure room. He’s pretty funny actually. I get into the room and there is music playing. I see the doc and he is smiling. I don’t ask why. They have been careful to hide whatever it is they will poke up my backside. The anesthetist puts the oxygen tube thingy on my nose and the doc tells me to roll onto my left side. I don’t remember anything after that.

I wake up about an hour later. Actually sooner than that according to my wife. Apparently I was lucid enough to talk to her and the doc after the procedure but I don’t remember any of that. My wife told me I only said the F-meister word once this time as opposed to my free use of it on my last colonoscopy. The doc said they found three polyps and he will see me again in five years if the results are good. I’m sure he was smiling. He gave me 8x10 color glossy pics of my insides for me to share with friends and family. After I came more to my senses, I got dressed and my wife drove us home. She had a snack of Hostess DingDongs and water for me to have on the way. Now I know why I married her.

A WEEK LATER

I get a letter from the doc with the results. And I quote “I recently had the pleasure of performing a colonoscopy on….” Pleasure? Can’t say I share that feeling. In any case, the polyps were insignificant and everything is fine.

Now I made fun of all of this stuff, but you need to take care of yourself. If you are reaching the half century mark in age, have a colonoscopy done every five years or as often as your doc says to.
 
HalfLytely:

Original name was goLytely. "Lytes" is medical jargon for electrolytes, things like sodium, potassium, etc. "Go" means, well, go, in the colonic sense. Hence, goLytely. This being strong stuff, the mild version was dubbed "halflytely."

I know, TMI, but you asked. Glad that whole ordeal turned out OK, and thanks for the first hand description.
 
Thanks, guys, I'm taking "world-class colonoscopy" notes.

Presuming I still have a colon to scope after my taekwondo black-belt testing is over, I'll be surrendering myself to the scheduling authorities on 15 Feb.
 
I had this done last week. I'd say that bbbamI's DH's description was just about right, except my prep was for a day longer than his and involved Miralax/Dulcolax instead of HalfLytely. Biopsies were all benign, and I have to go back in three years since my father died of colon cancer.

I have the most Cadillac of the Cadillac federal employee health plans (BCBS Standard), and I had to give them the $350 deductible beforehand, plus the prep kit cost $31.xx From what they told me, the procedure is paid 100% but any biopsies are paid for by that $350 deductible plus BCBS. So, I presume that I won't get any of it back.

At least my 2011 deductible is out of the way.

I still have quite a bit of flavored clear water, artificially sweetened green tea, and peach tea, not to mention bouillon cubes. Somehow none of it is very appetizing after going through that. :LOL:
 
Rich_in_Tampa said:
I know, TMI, but you asked. Glad that whole ordeal turned out OK, and thanks for the first hand description.
Click to expand...
I don't think it was his hand he was thinking about. :angel:

Nords said:
Thanks, guys, I'm taking "world-class colonoscopy" notes.

Presuming I still have a colon to scope after my taekwondo black-belt testing is over, I'll be surrendering myself to the scheduling authorities on 15 Feb.
Click to expand...
Mmmm...you'll do just fine. Make sure your spouse brings along some DingDongs....that will make it all better.
smiley-happy082.gif
 
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