Neighbor Anita arrived to drive me to the clinic this morning. She was able to leave after check-in and do some shopping around town. I went downstairs to the hospital section of the building and was given a room. Nurses came in and out doing different tasks but the only one that got excited was Nurse Laura when she saw the size of the vein in my arm. "I won't even need a tourniquet to use that monster." she exclaimed. I was on a cot w/ just a hospital gown on, IV in place, and various other monitors attached when the doc came in and told me there is always the possibility of him puncturing the intestine wall. He handed me a tablet to sign stating he had warned me and walked out. Next came the anesthetist. He called me Barbara. I corrected the name and he said, "Oh I must have things out of order." I asked if Barbara was also getting a colonoscopy. "Yes she is ... but later." He warned me that there could always be complications when giving anesthesia and handed me a tablet to sign saying he had warned me. Nurse Laura gave something to me in my IV to make me 'more comfortable'. Was curious if it would affect my thinking so I started going through the alphabet naming a country that started w/ each letter. I hadn't done that exercise in awhile so it kept me busy as I was wheeled through doors and into the procedure room. I'd gotten to 'O' and could not come up w/ a country. Asked the nurses there but they said they didn't know one either and then ... that's all I remember. I woke up in my room and recalled I was trying to think of a country whose name began w/ 'O'. The doc poked his head in and said "No polyps, see you in five years" before taking off. The discharge nurse removed all of my monitors and said they did find diverticula and I should up the fiber in my diet. Then I changed back into my clothes and was walked out to a waiting Anita. On the way home it came to me, "Oman"!
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