One of these days I’ll accumulate your level of wisdom and go back to hypnotizing chickens. Till then enjoy your new freedom and spare me a lonesome tear sometimes. It’s nasty out here.

But, further to our discussion about age and cowpies, we should remember the great concluding voice-over by George C Scott in the movie Patton:

For over a thousand years Roman conquerors returning from the wars enjoyed the honor of triumph, a tumultuous parade. The conqueror rode in a triumphal chariot, the dazed prisoners [in this case, White House staffers!] walking in chains before him. And a slave stood behind the conqueror holding a golden crown and whispering in his ear a warning: that all glory is fleeting.”

by way of saying, we’ve seen this sort of thing before, and we’ll certainly see it again, if we live long enough

We all looked at the pictures from the playground on fire, but when you finally get an eye-popping photo op, you don’t provide diddley!

John

I had mine two years ago, at 54, and the prep was definitely worse than the procedure. In addition to the previous night’s evacuation procedure, there was a prep IV prior to the real anethesia, and, as the nurse warned, it burned going in my wrist. Then I was out, and woke up a second later, it seemed. Smiles all around; a healthy colon, aside from a slight “ulcerization”, whatever that was. Good results added to the mellowness. They are examining you as the tube exits, with the colon carefully inflated so the bright light shows the camera EVERYTHING. Your colon will never look as clean again, Nancy, so be sure to ask for the photos (well, maybe not).

You won’t want to do anything the rest of the day. My boss tried otherwise and bragged how he came back to work for half a day. My buddy here confirmed he did come back, but he was worthless and looked like hell.

On the flip side, as of last week, I am helping my close friend deal with a likely diagnosis of the worst news. He had symptoms recently, and at only 45, had not considered he needed the colonoscopy. After initial tests, he was told by his doctor to prepare himself as he goes to Billings next week for the colonoscopy, and get the final determination. I’m praying for him, as his father passed away last Christmas from a malignant brain tumor.