Hi & welcome back, Daryl!  Awhile ago you wrote in a message to Ardith Hinton:   
      
   DS>  While I have IBS, diverticulitis, and hemorrhoids   
   DS>  (with moderate to severe rectal bleeding...they   
   DS>  did blood work to make sure I wasn't becoming anemic),   
   DS>  recent colonoscopies have shown no polyps...   
      
      
              Good!  I understand colonoscopies are a drag... a female friend had   
   one recently & told me she was hors de combat for three days.  The alternative   
   could be worse, however, if further developments took place unchecked....  :-Q   
      
      
      
   DS>  Now that I'm over 50, I have both a colonoscopy and   
   DS>  an EGD (upper GI) done 13 months apart (or Medicare   
   DS>  won't pay for them...go figure).   
      
      
              I reckon the bean counters got into the act there & you are allowed   
   no more than one such test per year.  I've noticed also that once a person has   
   crossed some invisible boundary line they're deemed to be at a higher risk for   
   various things.  The downside is that the patient may wonder sometimes whether   
   the doctor is being a bit overconscientious.  The upside is that if you really   
   do need a certain type of testing you may find it easier to get... [wry grin].   
      
      
      
   DS>  I've got to go in for an IVP in late September, to   
   DS>  find out WHY I've been producing kidney stones like   
   DS>  mad. My first stone was discovered in April, 2010,   
   DS>  and removed 2 months later. My second stone was   
   DS>  discovered in early July, 2012...but not 10 days   
   DS>  after they removed it, they found a second one!!   
      
      
              I may have asked you before if the first stone was ever analyzed...   
   in Dallas's case, a change of diet seemed to help ward off the next occurrence   
   for ten or twenty years.  But I realize it's not always quite that simple, and   
   I'm curious as to what your IVP may or may not have indicated.  I had the same   
   test years ago.  Conclusion:  my kidneys are weird, as my GP & I already knew.   
   As long as I'm reasonably cautious about what I eat it's not a big deal.  :-))   
      
      
      
   DS>  before the IVP, I have to prep as if I was having a   
   DS>  colonoscopy   
      
      
              That's the bit where you spend all day on the toilet?  Apparently I   
   got off lightly in that regard, but I wore the needle mark for eighteen years.   
   Then there was the bit where I was instructed to hold my breath, after which I   
   was left alone for twenty minutes.  I was a teenager at the time.  Fortunately   
   for the technician & for me I was smart enough to realize there was no need to   
   hold my breath for the entire time.  I go to other labs nowadays... [chuckle].   
      
      
      
   DS>  If there is a blockage of some sort, or more stones,   
   DS>  I'm going back under the knife, as it were.   
      
      
              Although I'm late in answering, I hope your IVP went well.  :-)   
      
      
      
   DS>  The irritating thing (besides the burning, and a bad   
   DS>  case of prostatitis), is that it was originally   
   DS>  scheduled for August 31.   
      
      
              That must be very frustrating.  But... read on.   
      
      
      
   DS>  I should've realized it'd likely be cancelled, as it's   
   DS>  the Friday before Labor Day Weekend. Sure enough, it   
   DS>  got postponed until the end of September!!   
      
      
              Reminds me of the time when Nora was admitted to hospital on Friday   
   (allegedly for forty-eight hours).  I figured she wouldn't be discharged until   
   Monday... as she was, despite the prognostications of certain "gloom-and-doom"   
   artists in the parents' lounge.  If your doctors had serious reason to believe   
   you had cancer of the bowel, things would be happening so fast your head would   
   be spinning.  When hospitals postpone testing they're not too worried....  ;-)   
      
      
      
      
   --- timEd/386 1.10.y2k+   
    * Origin: Wits' End, Vancouver CANADA (1:153/716)