Quickie update from yesterday

Once again I have been overwhelmed by your support of my sharing (sometimes oversharing) of my ongoing health issues. Your comments, prayers and encouragement have blessed me no end. And because I know so many of you care, it's only fair to give you an update for you on how yesterday went.

The procedure went really well and I felt so at peace going into it, not ravenously hungry or thirsty like I could have been after fasting 24 hours and going through that lovely 'emptying' process.

I spent a good 20 minutes discussing my recent history with the specialist (who was the same one that did the  gastroscopy last year - a bit of a blessing as he knows part of the story already). Then he did the procedure - I felt much less sedated this time and was fully aware of the whole procedure, watching it on screen throughout, which was actually interesting rather than making me feel really icky about the whole thing.

Afterwards, and after some food (had never tasted so good!) I met with the specialist who showed me some pictures taken during the colonoscopy which showed some areas of inflammation and a couple of small ulcers, all on the right side which is interesting as all the pain/discomfort I get tends to be on the left side.

The specialist said he took about 10 tissue samples to send away for analysis which will take around 10 days to come back. But he has discussed (based on what he saw, pictures he showed which he had taken and my symptoms) the possibility of the results coming back confirming an inflammatory bowel disease, either ulcerative colitis or crohn's disease.

Despite the fact I don't really fancy having either of those being the outcome, I feel strangely at peace with it all. Like a lot of people have said, sometimes it's actually being able to put a label on what's happening that makes all the difference instead of the constant not-knowing. It means being able to move forward with treatment and any lifestyle changes required to manage from here on in.

So that's where I'm at. I cannot thank you all enough for the prayers, love and support you have all shown in different ways. It makes all the difference!