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)