Humor

Congratulations to All the Participants but I Have Once Again Won the Colonoscopy Contest

Notes on a Colossal Colonoscopy Competition

Andrew Knott
Human Parts
Published in
4 min readMay 18, 2023

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photo by author (obviously)

I suppose, considering my age and station in life, it was inevitable that I would eventually make the transition from “guy who writes about parenting” to “guy who writes about having a colonoscopy.” Well, at long last, here we are.

My recent colonoscopy was not my first “scopeo.” Because I have a mild inflammatory bowel disease, I began having semi-regular colonoscopies in my mid-thirties. There are some advantages to starting young. Namely, you’re typically decades younger than all the other patients in the gastroenterologist’s waiting room so you are treated as a bit of a novelty. During my earliest appointments, multiple staff members, patients, and casual observers commented on how youthful and vibrant I looked. This doesn’t happen quite as much anymore, but I still have the memories to look back fondly upon. Like the time the office staff gathered around and marveled as I performed a series of stretches to show off my flexibility. This particular memory is a made-up one, but I sometimes wish it were real. I’ve always treated medical appointments as a competition and colonoscopies are no exception.

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Andrew Knott
Andrew Knott

Written by Andrew Knott

Essayist, humorist, novelist. Dad of three. Editor of Frazzled. Author of the novel LOVE'S A DISASTER (2024). Lifetime 4.0 GPA. Website: AndrewKnottAuthor.com