Welcome to the forums, Captrue. 

I also received mixed information when I was getting an ileoscopy. 

I called my GI's office and the manufacturer of the bowel prep and decided to do the bowel prep anyway. 

The one I like is called Pico-Salax. It tastes great and works well. Not sure if this is a common brand outside of Canada, but it's all I've ever used. 

If you can, call your doctor's office and confirm once more what they'd like you to do. 

If the scope is below the stoma then there's no point in taking the prep as the contents will come out into the bag. Sounds like they have sent out the instructions by mistake.

Fleet enemas can be useful to clear out any mucus in the colon

Posted by: Sarah Green

If the scope is below the stoma then there's no point in taking the prep as the contents will come out into the bag. 

This is totally right. I had a total lapse and assume this would be through the stoma, but the sigmoidoscopy is only for the very last part of the colon and rectum.

Thanks for the suggestion of Pico-Lax. Sadly I am in the US and can not get that brand. 

Posted by: captrue

Thanks for the suggestion of Pico-Lax. Sadly I am in the US and can not get that brand. 

To clarify, the brand I'm referring to is Pico-Salax (not Picolax, a different brand): http://www.pico-salax.ca/

As far as I know, it's also not available in the US, but it sounds like you may not need it at all if the scope isn't going through your stoma.

Sarah, that was my thinking on having to drink the MagCitrate. The scope will be at the level of the sigmoid.  I agree on the Fleet enemas, although I am not looking forward to them.

I appreciate your response.

Welcome, Captrue.

I also got mixed information the first time I was scheduled for an illioscopy and a flexsig  of my rectal stump after my initial colectomy/illiostomy surgery.

Seems like the front office at the GI place can't cope with the idea that nothing comes out there anymore!( many can not. My nurse at my recent hospital stay kept wanting to help me wipe back there....NOT NECESSARY!).

Anyway, within my medical HMO I  have a way to email my doctors with urgent and non-urgent advise and she responded for me to  do nothing. Just don't eat because of the anesthesia.

I had those tests done 9 months out from my surgery , now I get an annual Flexsig of my stump to do cancer screening. Seems like no more illoscopy unless there is a problem there.

My question ( maybe for another thread) is what does everybody else do maintenance wise? I know it will depend on both each person's  initial conditions and what we are left with, but it might make for an interesting discussion.

My doctor recommends the cancer screening, but says many of her patients don't do it.

If someone has any colon left, (whether that's just their anal stump, colon above a colostomy or a dormant colon below an ileostomy), then they can get colon cancer just like anyone else. Most people don't have their small intestine checked unless they have an underlying medical condition 

Right. I just had the illioscopy that first time, nine months after my initial surgery. everything looked good, so there is no ongoing recommendation for regular/annual  checks.  My rectal stump ( two words I never ever wanted to hear together!) is the thing that needs yearly screening. I had UC and people who had that have a heightened chance of rectal ( & colon) cancer going forward.  The stump also begins to change shape and get 'weaker', since the colin & rectum were nourished by the actual stool...which is gone gone gone! ( In my case, gratefully). Since its an easy procedure and I don't have to prep, I really don't mind. I would hate to have come all THIS way and then have the stump go bad on me! 

Is there any reason why you haven't had the last bit of the rectum removed? I've never understood why they remove it for some people but not others? 

Posted by: Sarah Green

I've never understood why they remove it for some people but not others? 

I can't speak for cancer patients, but in the IBD world there tends to be a few schools of thought:

• Keep the stump in case there's a chance for a reversal or j-pouch.
• Keep the stump to avoid another surgery (if it's not causing problems).
• Remove the stump to avoid further risk of inflammation/cancer.
• Remove the stump to make life easier (no need to manage mucosal discharge from the anus).

Since my Crohn's Disease involved agressive perianal disease too, there was absolutely no reason at all to keep the stump - and I had no chance for reversal anyway.