Back home now. He found and removed one polyp. He still says the blood is from internal hemorrhoids. The sharp pain with BMs that radiates is still unexplained.

The first thing said to me after I woke up: "You need to pass gas."

And now the gory prep details:
1st prep: BMs 1, 3, 7, and 11 hours later
2nd prep: 8 BMs over the course of the next two hours

Good to know that the polyp is gone and you're now on the other side of the procedure. Do your internal hemmies prolapse?

At least one hemmie prolapses, but it supposedly didn't at a time when I was still having problems. This was at a followup after infrared coagulation when my CRS said they were all grade 1 (no prolapse) and shouldn't be painful. At the last appointment, he said one did. It *could* explain why I have been worse lately.

I'm still convinced that the pain and blood are somehow tied together, because I usually get one with the other. Maybe that prolapsing hemmie is associated with a very sensitive nerve(?)

In 2013 and 2014 I had two prolasping hemmies the size of full marshmallows that held my stool back so that I was only having a bowel movement every four days (and there would be 6 - 8 on that "day 4"). I would not have a lot of pain on the first trip to the loo, and would shove all of that excess flesh back up the hole with little problem. Afterward, there would just be a sense of fullness, that wasn't very hard to tolerate. Over the next 3 - 4 hours though, as I repeatedly went back to the toilet, and had to keep letting the hems hang out (which hurts them) and push them back in (also painful), each trip became more and more painful until I almost couldn't bear the last few trips at all. As I sat down for the first "thrust", I would be in so much pain until I could shove them back in and that's all I wanted to do. But if I did so too quickly, another load would come back down the pipe before I even had a chance to clean up after the first. The pain was at a level 9 1/2 at that point and would drop to an 8 once I shoved everything back inside. I would then go lie on the couch and it would gradually sneak back up to a 9 1/2. After about 6 or 7 "goes", I would take 2 Tylenol 4's which would lower the pain to about a 7 and it would immediately stop any further action because of the constipating effects of its codeine. I wouldn't take it sooner though, or else I may have another "day", the next day, if I hadn't completely emptied my bowels. I never was "constipated" either, and even though I didn't have a movement on days 1, 2 and 3, my stool was always soft. After not being able to live like that anymore, I saw my CRS who checked my fissure again and said that we needed to do the LIS. I was actually still under the impression that it was my fissure causing me all of the pain. I was in heaven after the LIS. The CRS had no idea why my hemmies no longer prolapsed, but I was thrilled that they no longer did and I began having regular, lovely-looking bowel movements on a perfectly daily basis! Two years after the LIS though, my hemmies started prolapsing again, and within a couple of months, I was back on my 4 day schedule of debilitating pain. I had read that after LIS, your sphincter would go back to it's original tightness in about 18 months, but new fissures were unlikely because it only regained about 90%. I then went back to tell my CRS that I was in horrific pain and believed that it was my hemmies, that the LIS had loosened the area so that the hems didn't come down with the stool because there was room for them NOT to, and that I was now back to square one and most of my original pain had been from the hemmies in the first place. He wasn't at all sure that that was possible, because "internal hemmies" don't have the same kind of nerve system and shouldn't be painful at all. He did say that in rare cases they could become inflamed and after doing a digital rectal exam said that he'd do the hemorrhoidectomy. We come to today, and I'm a week and a bit into the recovery from that. I'm only telling you this history because it's common for the medical community to be certain that internals can't cause you any grief, but I know otherwise and there are definitely others like me out there, although rare (apparently, the tissue CAN become inflamed and/or strangulated, causing severe pain).

I really hope that you get your problem sorted soon, whatever it ends up being.

Sorry about what you've had to go through. It makes my pain seem like small potatoes. I hope that the hemorrhoidectomy solves your problems.

Not small potatoes for you at all. These things really do a number on our heads and mess up all of the otherwise good things in our lives. You need answers and your good health back ASAP.

If you haven't already, make sure you have some green cordial on hand to help with the prep solution. And a water bottle or straw. Get yourself a cushion, or move a chair into the bathroom (if you have room) I didn't feel like going far from the loo. On the morning of the colonoscopy, I had a little accident, so I'd also reccomend having some feminine hygiene pads handy.
Good luck!

I had a little accident, too. Note for future colonoscopy preppers: If you feel like you need to pass gas, IT'S NOT GAS. Sadly, I had to throw out my Lucky Charms boxers.

Since about 24 hours after the procedure, I've been feeling some abdominal discomfort. If feels like trapped gas that moves around. I pass it when I can. Maybe my colon is just sore.

Had my first BM this morning (about 40 hours since I started eating again). I couldn't have asked for a better one: nice and soft with no sign of blood. It didn't solve the ab pain, though. Hopefully that clears up soon.

I had a nice break from my normal pain and blood because of the liquid prep poo and a day off of having a BM, but it looks like I'm back to "normal" now. I'm guessing the ol' hemmie has poked his way back out.

I did see something slightly disturbing in my poo this morning: a thin dark streak on one piece. I've never seen blood that isn't bright red, so I'm wondering if I'm bleeding farther up, perhaps at the former polyp site. Hopefully it's no big deal. I've read that perforations of other problems during a colonoscopy may not show up for a couple of weeks, so that gives me something else to worry about...