After already having a 2 Hr GES about 14 months ago, I thought I was well prepared going into today as far as knowing what to expect. Man, was I wrong! The 4 hour version was nothing close to the 2 hr GES.
2 Hr GES (for me - others have reported differences) :
- Egg Salad Sandwich and water.
- Lay down for 2 full hours as the machine above you takes pics every couple of minutes.
The 4 Hr GES for me (apparently others have had slightly different experiences) went like this:
- I got to eat Egg Beaters (about 1 full measuring cup), 2 pieces of toast with strawberry jelly and water.
- I was told to make sure I eat the eggs, drink the water and eat as much toast with jelly as I could. They told me the sugar in the jelly was a key component to digestion.
- I had only 10 minutes to eat it all. Since I eat chew everything until it is almost nothing (this helps reduce the pain when I eat real food), I knew I had to eat like I did pre-GP and pray I don't get sick. I managed to swallow the eggs with the water and eat 1 piece of toast in the 10 minutes. Yuck! Is all I have to say about that.
- The bell rang for 10 minutes (they checked on me at 5 min to let me know), and I was escorted to the other room to stand in front of a machine, not moving, for 2 full minutes. Being dizzy does not help achieve this goal very easily.
- At the end of the 2 minutes and the tech is happy with the picture(s), I was taken to the main waiting room. They would call me back in 30 min to do another session of the 2 minute photo-shoot.
- We continued this process for 2 hours - or 4 picture sessions.
- Once the results from the last test was in, the tech looked them over and said that I would need to come back in 2 hours and have one last image taken. That my stomach was slow enough (couldn't tell me how slow) to warrant me to continue with the GES test.
- I could go where ever I wanted, do what ever I wanted, as long as I was back in 2 hours and did not eat or drink anything.
- When I got back he had to note if I got sick in any manner, which I did not (pat on the back)! It was a nice day, so I hung out by my car and played on my phone. The time was too short to drive home and I was too dizzy to actually walk around a mall.
- The last of the pictures were taken and I was on my marry way to wait 1 week for the results from the GI Dr's office.
I can say that I am very happy with this test. I would do the 4 hour GES in a heartbeat over the 2 hour (laying down for that long made my legs and butt go numb). The waiting room sucked to be in for that long, but was much better than counting tiles. The place I had the GES done does not have clocks or tvs. I hear from other people that some got to watch a movie! All I got to watch was the blurry computer monitor screen with my digestive track. This was much better.
The only bad part of today is that I now have a GP Baby and it is killing me! The pain from the bloating is crazy and the heat is not helping me stay comfortable. Below is a pic of my normal tummy day (taken a few months back -but I'm still the same) and a pic from a few hours ago.
