"I thought I was going to pass out."

Arrived at Lagan Valley, no reception or directions/signage where to go.

Rang for assistance. Was told to follow the signs for the kitchen/restaurant. There were no signs for this either, was told them to go right then left. Found signs for restaurant and then day procedures.

Arrived at day procedures, no one there to greet/check in. Sign said please check in, another said please take a seat and wait for a member of staff. After 35 minutes a nurse arrived and asked me if I was a patient and took me for the preliminary assessment.

I was asked if I wanted gas & air or sedation. I chose sedation, as I found this procedure extremely painful 18m ago. Nurse tried x3 to find a vein and said they would get someone else to try when I went round for the procedure.

Waited another hour in a changing room before meeting the dr who performed procedure. They encouraged me to take gas & air and again, it was excruciating. I thought I was going to pass out.

I heard them saying about removing the loop. I swear, I thought they were burning a loop off my colon. The gas and air was removed from my mouth and I had to try to breathe the pain out.

On returning to recovery the nurse delivered my results and told me everything is fine. I told her about the pain, they said I should ask for sedation next time, owing to the shape of my colon.

I told them I asked for it this time after my previous experience and they said it’s not an available for a flexible sigmoidoscopy. It’s on all the literature, it was offered, then my acceptance was dismissed in favour of their preferred gas & air.

While I’m grateful that there’s nothing sinister, I still have no reason why I lost so much blood from my colon a month ago and my anxiety continues.

The health service feels very disjointed at present and I expect I’ll be written off with no further action required, rather than getting an explanation.

If it happens again I should return to A&E and if it’s anything like last time, wait 16 hours with no pain relief, or even water, while excreting blood, while they pressure me for a stool sample which I can’t provide because there’s consistently nothing but blood being released from my back passage. They will test 2 stool samples and tell me it’s not stool and I still won’t have a reason for the occurrence.

It’s been a long month and a long day and I don’t know what will happen next, beyond me checking the toilet bowl after every bowel movement.