Endoscopy including biopsy on my pancreas?
 

Anyone else had one?

what do i have to look forward to?

They rang me this morning and said that they want me in as a matter of urgency Thursday morning.

If it's up the bum, it's not pleasant. Take someone with you and get sedated. I didn't, but wish I had. Doesn't hurt, but it's not nice.

Nope, down the throat.

Sedation is mandatory, apparently, for this one...that means it'll be bloody awful.

Had the other a month ago, not nice, but I could fart for England after it! LOL

Strangely, they have found a swollen pancreas while doing a CT scan on my lower bowel....with which they found no problem other than my age.

Hey, Alcazar! It should go smooth, and hopefully, they will find your organ generally healthy. Best wishes. :)

Thanks.
Not looking forward to it.
I thought I'd dodged this one when I had the colonoscopy.
Now I'll have the full set, nose, mouth and #rse.I

I had this done a while ago, it wasn't that bad on reflection, the mind games pre-procedure had me "worried" - but that was my own doing, nothing else.

I guess I had already prepared my mind as to what was going to happen and what it would be like, in reality it was OK, or as OK as it can be.
I had sedation also, but he told me it was very mild sedation and was just to take the edge of it (consultants words, not mine).

The worst thing is the hunger. I wasn't allow to eat or drink anything for 8.5 hours before hand, and the eating bit consisted of 1 miserable slice of toast.

Good luck, hope everything works out for you.

Thanks, I'm in at 0930, so the no eating.drinking will be fine. Should I take my morning meds, do you think?

Best wishes.

I reckon you should, I was very well informed on what I should/shouldn't do(done privately) and they said take meds as normal. Did you not get any letters?

You'll be fine :)

Hope they cleaned the instruments between each test!




Seriously - best wishes for the test - hope it's not too unpleasant and that the results are OK!

I had an endoscopy with 4 stomach biopsies taken a couple of months ago without sedation. It is unpleasant, in the same sense that vomiting is unpleasant, but its nothing to get wound up about - you wont be sick as you wont have been allowed to eat or drink anything for a time period before the procedure. I expected to feel something as biopsies were taken, but felt nothing at all. Basically you need to swallow a flexible cable the diameter of your small finger with a button type end on it. The first ten seconds is the tricky bit, and the the same again on exit. It is not painful, it is a little weird, and a little bit unpleasant. For the medical team around you, it will be as routine as taking a blood sample.

If you have complex medical needs or suffer from hospital anxiety, or dependant on age, you may not have the option to forgo sedation; Urban has summed it up very well above, it is absolutely an exercise in mind over matter. As he rightly says, the hunger aspect is worse than the procedure. If I were asked to have it redone tomorrow, I would have no concerns about it at all, and would not be requesting sedation second time around - it's as routine as having a haircut!

BTW I dont think it is possible to take a biopsy from the pancreas using an endoscope - they can generate a ultrasound image but I dont believe the pipework allows for access.

DO NOT READ AROUND FOR INFORMATION ABOUT THE EXPERIENCE ON THE INTERNET - some of the people posting on those threads and boards are frightened by their very existence it sounds as though some of thier procedures were carried out in third world countries.

If you have any questions ask away, or PM if you want to keep your fears private.

All the best and i hope it all works out ok for you - just be thanking your lucky stars its endoscopy and not cytoscopy, i've had the pleasure of both and can safely say you're experiencing the "easier and more pleasant" option. :)

No, no letters, they rang me Monday morning, wanted me there Thursday as a matter of urgency. I'm not sure THAT fills me with confidence either.....

I have to have sedation, (not been given any options), so had to ask the wife, who works about five miles from the hospital, if she could drop me and pick me up after. Not allowed t drive and am supposed to "have someone with me" after sedation.

Apparently they are interested in my pancreas which showed up as swollen when they did a CT scan on the lower intestine. Google says they can do a biopsy and take samples from the entry to the pancreas via the endoscope. They can even remove gallstones etc by it.:eek:

Thanks for all the good wishes. It humbles me.

I'd not be bothered too much about the sedation, I doubt they'd load you up too much anyway.
I opted for no sedation when I had mine, but it was the actual consultant that said he'd put a bit in - maybe he could charge a bit more seeing as I was private, don't know.
I don't really think I felt any different to be honest, certainly didn't feel out of it.

However I was escorted from the ward to the waiting room by a nurse, who wanted to make sure that I had a driver with me. Must be for legal reasons I suppose so they keep themselves right.

Nothing to add other than best wishes.

hopefully they find nothing to worry about. ive had the camera up the johnson, now that IS an eye watering procedure and probably the nearest man will come to the sensation of giving birth.

Eeeeeek! I'd forgotten that one when I said I was going for a full set. No thanks.

I remember my dad once telling me that, during the war in the airforce, one of his favourite sayings was "Up your pipe!"

And that after having that done, he'd never use it again!

You have PM:thumb:

When the lights dim and you spot a camcorder and the sound of his zip undoing.........run , run like fcuk :lol1:

He won't be able to, he'll be drugged up nicely :D

I hope these comment lighten alcazar's mood, and I wish him good luck for tomorrow, that his results are fine.

just make sure they use the right camera,

joking aside, hope all goes well

I just hope it's not the same camera I had last time...colonoscopy....:eek:

Best wishes. It will be fine, stay put! :)

Well, that's that procedure done: endoscopy with ultrasound, biopsy and fine needle recovery. That's why it was in hull not Scunny, a bit more than a standard look see.
They will let me know the results, if any, in about a week, but apparently they pancreas wasn't swollen, as I was originally told, but has some sort of "mass" in it. That's why they were looking.
Hmmmmmmmm

On the plus side the procedure was a lot less uncomfortable and shorter than the colonoscopy I had last, and some of the nurses were distinctly "nice" LOL

Now feeling tired and detached after whatever they gave me to relax me.

Glad to know it all went fine. Easy and rest, now. :)

Glad it went well, have a beer now:thumb:

I'll be able to rest once they tell me what the "mass" is, and what, if anything, they propose to do with/about it.

:confused:

UPDATE
 

For those who wished me well, I apparently have a small benign cyst on one of the "side tubes" in the pancreas.
They have drained it and will monitor it with another MRI scan in two years.
Apart from some diverticulitis in the colon, all else is clear.

Looks like I'll be around for a while yet, then...LOL

Fantastic news! :notworthy

Now open a bottle of bubbly with your family tonight and relax. Best wishes. :thumb:

I have only just caught up with this thread and I am very happy that everything turned out ok for you.