One thing that many dread as we age is that moment the first colonoscopy arrives. The procedure is an excellent way to identify risk for colon cancer and recommendations recently shifted the first age of getting one from 50 to 45. However, for most - it is not the procedure that is the problem as one is typically under anesthesia for it - but rather the preparation for the procedure that requires fasting for two days and taking a laxitive to "clean the system". Yet, the specifics as to what happens to a person after ingesting the laxitive are not well described. The goal of this experiment is to characterize the after effects of ingesting colonoscopy laxitives.

Given the observational nature of this study there is no hypothesis to test. Since traditionally ScientificAmeriKen has a hypothesis for each experiment, the hypothesis of this experiment will be that ScientificAmeriKen will survive.

Per medical instructions, the process was initiated at 6 PM the day before the procedure through ingesting 16 ounces of "PLENVU" solution over a 30 minute period, followed by 16 additional ounces of water over the next 30 minutes. Time of bathroom visit and session length were recorded. At 6:30 AM the next day, a second dose of "PLENVU" was taken and methodology was repeated as before.

For both doses, the onset of the first session was approximately 45-50 minutes. In total, the first dose resulted in 10 sessions with greater length for early sessions versus later sessions. The second dose resulted in a total of 9 sessions with a similar pattern. An effort to sleep was initiated following the 8th session after the first dose. There was one session during the sleeping period.

ScientificAmeriKen is happy to report the hypothesis was correct and ScientificAmeriKen survived both the process and the procedure. Overall these data provide very useful information, including after ingestion of the laxitives, one has approximately 40-50 minutes to make their peace. Furthermore, the number of sessions were much greater than expected - in total about 19 sessions. Luckily, ScientificAmeriKen had previously received excellent advice (from the braver wife who had this procedure done first) to have ointments and wet wipes on hand for this experiment. Interesting, despite the frequency of the later sessions of approximately 1 hour apart, the body was mostly able to allow decent periods of sleep, the first about 2 hours, 1 wake up, and then 4 hours until the time to wake up for the second dose. Unexpectedly however, a few sessions occured following the procedure, which biologically makes sense, but when the procedure is done one expects to be done! All in all, these data will be useful for ScientificAmeriKen as it is advised that this procedure be carried out every 10 years.