updates galore

Its been quite a while since I made any updates but they're certainly long overdue.  At the end of last year, we discovered my dad has a genetic condition and that myself and my brother needed to get some tests done to see if we have it.

So, in the new year, we went along to see the genetic counsellors to get further information and then I went off to the surgeon shortly afterwards to get booked in for the first of many colonoscopies.  Happy happy joy joy :)  I have to say, the worst part was the preparation - not the results of the stuff you have to take for the preparation .. the stuff itself!!  Let it be said to anyone who needs to have a colonscopy, that if you can get past the foul tasting preparation drink, the rest is plain sailing

Like a good girl, towards the end of March I traipsed on into the hospital for my day procedure and happily went through it without any ill effect .. or so I thought :)  Couple of days later, after the colonoscopy, we traipsed back to the hospital to see why I was in so much pain!  After some initial umming and ahhing about whether or not I had appendicitis, they called upon my surgeon who advised that I should be admitted for observation since, obviously, two days later, I was meant to be fine.

No perforated bowel, seemingly no appendicitis, and no obvious inflammation visible on an xray or a CT scan, so they took the safe approach and admitted me at least overnight, being pumped full of saline and antibiotics.  3 days later I was out with more antibiotics and still no news on why I was so sore :)

On the bright side, had I been able to see the Clipsal 500 from my bed, I'd have probably had the best view in town - apparently I was one of the only rooms to have such a large window!  Yay ;)

Here we are nearly two weeks later, and whilst I'm still in pain and people are still umming and ahhing, we do have some good news :)  We discovered on the day of the procedure, that yes I do have polyps and they were removed.  All good.  They were testing those as well as biopsies of my bowel just to be sure.  All the results have come back clear, however given my age and how rare it is for someone my age to have polyps at all, AFAP or not, the surgeon is off to talk to the geneticist to see if 3 years is the right period of time before I have to do it all again

On the whole, considering what the news COULD have been, I've done pretty well.  I have something tangible and I know what to expect from here on in.  Whilst there's still a lot that they're not sure about (post-colonoscopy issues), its nice to know that for the time being, I'm all clear :)

And you know what?  I've come about as close as they can come to them diagnosing me without being able to use a blood test to identify the gene, so I'm just assuming that I have the condition.  It wasn't at all like I thought it'd feel after all that :)  Funny what perspective can do, huh? :)