Why have a colonoscopy done on a bedridden man? I would refuse this ridiculous order and tell his MD that you will not subject him to all of this; there is no purpose for it and nothing to be gained. Would you consent to colon surgery if a pre-cancerous polyp was found? Why prolong a life that is already limited to a bed?
The prep is known to completely destroy the normal gut flora, so vital for brain and body health and one of medicine's 'dirty little secrets' is that the scopes cannot be adequately cleaned between patients. This means that your husband could be exposed to be exposed to all manner of diseases and parasites. Don't believe this retired RN? Please do a simple search on the issues.
Frankly, colonoscopies are becoming outdated and new DNA-based checks of stool specs are as accurate as a scopes and fast becoming even more accurate. Colonoscopies miss a full 37% of colon cancers!
Please, spare you and your husband this unnecessary procedure and have a simple stool spec done. If concerned about ant cancer, a CT scan is very bit as accurate in finding cancers, more so even.
I need to say, I had a colonoscopy last year in Nov. I really wonder why my Dr continues to do them. He got hardly anything. The anesthesiologist hardly got anything. He didn't just leave once the procedure was done, he stayed till it was done to make sure I woke up and told me what he found. He could have had me make an appointment for the results and he didn't. If you are Medicare, look at what the doctor bills, then what Medicare thinks is reasonable then take 80% of that. These doctors and labs do not get a fraction of what they ask for. I really can see where Specialist will not participate in Medicare.
The high prices everyone else and their insurance pay are making up the difference for the Medicare patients. The real cost is somewhere in the middle.
My chiropractor got $19 for every Medicare patient visit, and she charged my insurance $120 with me paying an additional $40 copay. She was very up front about it, telling me that without patients like me to offset the Medicare patients, she'd be out of business. I appreciated that she wanted to provide care for Medicare patients, but I didn't much like the idea that I'm the one paying for them.
Let the doctor take him home and do the prep himself. I know... just as ridiculous as the doctor thinking it should be done on a person who is bedridden. Unbelievable!
This sounds like a Dr performing an expensive procedure purely for the income. This is nuts. I would have never put my mother through something like that. Don't do it. Like has already been said *would you really act on it if there was something to be found?*
This again reminds me of the story of the older man who had one,. The laser hit a gas bubble causing a blast that knocked the doctor and his assistant against the wall and killed the older man,. True story.
A lot of these docs have no idea what's involved in prepping an elder for any test, getting the person TO the test, and convincing them to cooperate with whatever the test involves (hold still, hold your breath, bear down, swallow, or whatever the test may be). I had a doc order a sleep apnea test for my LO to be done at their test site. Hmmm... OK. We would need an ambulette to take her there at 9 PM and pick her up at 6 AM - that's a problem by itself. She transfers from gurney/wheelchair on her own sometimes - but not always. Another problem. She's incontinent - do they want her peeing all over the test site? She tries to get out of bed sometimes and sometimes falls down at random points during the night. Will they be having someone providing 1:1 supervision all night for her? She's demented, so will they have someone there to put her leads back on all night while she rips them off? No, they would not. And with all of the above going on, they'd then be calling ME at 3 AM when they got sick of her to get her out of there immediately - which would be difficult to do. Some docs don't think it through. Once I pointed out all of that, the test was suddenly not quite so crucial to have done as it seemed that the liability of having her at their facility FAR outweighed the money to be made from performing the test on her.
"it’ll only cause damage to internal organs. and whatever you discover going ahead with the exam, are you really going to treat it? operation at his age? chemotherapy?"
A colonoscopy does not effect internal organs that I know of. Perforation can happen. You are only under long enough for the procedure. And 76 is not that old. I know people who have gone under surgery at this age and have done well. The problem here is this man is bedridden. This means he maybe too weak to under go any type of surgery or testing. And for a doctor to suggest that this woman try to do the prepping and then find a way to the hospital is ludicrous. I would have said no from the beginning. But some people don't think they have the option to say no to a doctor, but you do.
"A colonoscopy (koe-lun-OS-kuh-pee) is an exam used to look for changes — such as swollen, irritated tissues, polyps or cancer — in the large intestine (colon) and rectum. During a colonoscopy, a long, flexible tube (colonoscope) is inserted into the rectum.May 18, 2022x"
Age 76 and bedridden? He doesn't need a colonoscopy. Your husband must have one very greedy doctor. If it's colon cancer the doctor is looking for, tell him to order a Cologuard test. It detects 92% of colon cancers. Then tell him he can come himself or send a nurse to hold the collection container under your husband's a$$ to collect the specimen.
I had the Cologuard first. It was a false positive. Dr later said it may have been blood from a fissure. Really? The test is suppose to be able to tell the difference between cancer cells in the blood and regular blood.
I once read where a doctor had bragged about giving a 95 year old woman her first ever mammogram. It just shows you how stupid and greedy some doctors are. Just curious how old yiur husband is and why doctor us recommending a colonoscopy.
please OP, don’t do it. you’re still in time to say NO.
it’ll only cause damage to internal organs. and whatever you discover going ahead with the exam, are you really going to treat it? operation at his age? chemotherapy?
3 months ago, a doctor wanted to do that to my LO too. he would have made a lot of money. i said NO. (in my case, i’m very lucky that my LO is doing just fine; i’m very glad i said NO; my LO is very glad too).
Just because Doctor wants this done, doesn't mean u have to agree to it. I just went thru one a year ago at 72. I will never have to go thru one again. There is an age limit and I think its 75. As we get older the lining of the colon thins. It can be perforated and then Peritonitis sets in and you can die.
There is no way you can do this. I had to take 12 horse pills at two different times with lots of water. I have a small stomach and could not hold the water down. And how do they expect you to transport him to the hospital?
I agreed to my first and only colonoscopy at age 56 and will NEVER have another one. There are now stool smear tests (not the usual ColoGuard) that detect DNA of cancerous cells. far more accurate than the scopy which misses 37% of cancers and the devices are notoriously unclean. The Olympus brand cannot be autoclaved and spreads every manner of things between patient victims.
I'm among the approx 3-5% (or 15k )of people annually who suffer long term nerve damage to the lower spinal nerves and mine was so brutal - and I was awake and fighting, held down by 3 people - that I had to seek out and undergo PTSD counseling for the experience.
No way. If they want to put him in the hospital to do the prep - they can deal with it. Otherwise, there has to be another way. Just outright refuse. Sometimes people just don't think these things through!
PLEASE don't put your husband or yourself through this nonsense. I mean really? Is the doctor that prescribed the colonoscopy not aware of your husbands condition? Because no doctor in their right mind would prescribe one for a bedridden person, unless perhaps(if absolutely necessary)if done in a hospital setting. My late husband was completely bedridden for the last 22 months of his life and I would never have considered putting my husband or myself through that no matter what.
Oh, please call the doctor and advise that you cannot do this procedure at home, alone, with a bedridden patient. If it is to be done at all, it needs to be done in a hospital. There is no way on this earth that you can possibly clean the fecal matter away once the prep meds begin working. Please don't do this alone.
Why on God's good earth would you put him (and yourself) through this? I see no upside to this testing. And I have to ask... What would you and or he do with any results that were less than good? Would he tolerate surgery? Would he tolerate any chemo treatment? If the answer is no then WHY do the testing.
**side note here benefits of colonoscopy decline after the age of 75 so there may be no real benefit to this anyway. Unless they are trying to rule out a problem and if that is the case I repeat ..what would you do...would he tolerate surgery, would he tolerate chemo
I with everyone else, there is no way I would attempt this. In general the life expectancy of a person once they become totally bedridden is not long, I would question whether whatever it is the doctor thinks they are looking for would decrease it by much.
Why have a colonoscopy done on a bedridden man? I would refuse this ridiculous order and tell his MD that you will not subject him to all of this; there is no purpose for it and nothing to be gained. Would you consent to colon surgery if a pre-cancerous polyp was found? Why prolong a life that is already limited to a bed?
The prep is known to completely destroy the normal gut flora, so vital for brain and body health and one of medicine's 'dirty little secrets' is that the scopes cannot be adequately cleaned between patients. This means that your husband could be exposed to be exposed to all manner of diseases and parasites. Don't believe this retired RN? Please do a simple search on the issues.
Frankly, colonoscopies are becoming outdated and new DNA-based checks of stool specs are as accurate as a scopes and fast becoming even more accurate. Colonoscopies miss a full 37% of colon cancers!
Please, spare you and your husband this unnecessary procedure and have a simple stool spec done. If concerned about ant cancer, a CT scan is very bit as accurate in finding cancers, more so even.
My chiropractor got $19 for every Medicare patient visit, and she charged my insurance $120 with me paying an additional $40 copay. She was very up front about it, telling me that without patients like me to offset the Medicare patients, she'd be out of business. I appreciated that she wanted to provide care for Medicare patients, but I didn't much like the idea that I'm the one paying for them.
I know... just as ridiculous as the doctor thinking it should be done on a person who is bedridden. Unbelievable!
"it’ll only cause damage to internal organs. and whatever you discover going ahead with the exam, are you really going to treat it? operation at his age? chemotherapy?"
A colonoscopy does not effect internal organs that I know of. Perforation can happen. You are only under long enough for the procedure. And 76 is not that old. I know people who have gone under surgery at this age and have done well. The problem here is this man is bedridden. This means he maybe too weak to under go any type of surgery or testing. And for a doctor to suggest that this woman try to do the prepping and then find a way to the hospital is ludicrous. I would have said no from the beginning. But some people don't think they have the option to say no to a doctor, but you do.
"A colonoscopy (koe-lun-OS-kuh-pee) is an exam used to look for changes — such as swollen, irritated tissues, polyps or cancer — in the large intestine (colon) and rectum. During a colonoscopy, a long, flexible tube (colonoscope) is inserted into the rectum.May 18, 2022x"
that’s what i meant by age…
i meant age + bedridden + etc.
i just didn’t spell out all i meant.
i meant it’s too risky, don’t do it.
If it's colon cancer the doctor is looking for, tell him to order a Cologuard test. It detects 92% of colon cancers. Then tell him he can come himself or send a nurse to hold the collection container under your husband's a$$ to collect the specimen.
please OP, don’t do it. you’re still in time to say NO.
it’ll only cause damage to internal organs. and whatever you discover going ahead with the exam, are you really going to treat it? operation at his age? chemotherapy?
3 months ago, a doctor wanted to do that to my LO too. he would have made a lot of money. i said NO. (in my case, i’m very lucky that my LO is doing just fine; i’m very glad i said NO; my LO is very glad too).
Call Doctor. IF benefits clearly outweigh risks for this procedure - ask for it to be arranged as an in-patient.
Doctors are human & sometimes forget a 'routine' test can be overly burdensome on the caregiver.
NO WAY!!!!
Do you think that somehow the procedure will help him?
There is no way you can do this. I had to take 12 horse pills at two different times with lots of water. I have a small stomach and could not hold the water down. And how do they expect you to transport him to the hospital?
What are they looking for?
I'm among the approx 3-5% (or 15k )of people annually who suffer long term nerve damage to the lower spinal nerves and mine was so brutal - and I was awake and fighting, held down by 3 people - that I had to seek out and undergo PTSD counseling for the experience.
Never again.
My late husband was completely bedridden for the last 22 months of his life and I would never have considered putting my husband or myself through that no matter what.
I see no upside to this testing.
And I have to ask...
What would you and or he do with any results that were less than good?
Would he tolerate surgery?
Would he tolerate any chemo treatment?
If the answer is no then WHY do the testing.
**side note here benefits of colonoscopy decline after the age of 75 so there may be no real benefit to this anyway. Unless they are trying to rule out a problem and if that is the case I repeat ..what would you do...would he tolerate surgery, would he tolerate chemo
Why does your husband need a colonoscopy?
Has he had a non-invasive "poop in the box" test that showed reasons for a colonosocopy?
I would question the wisdom of ordering this procedure for someone who is bed-ridden, unless they are admitted to a hospital for the prep.