For those who are curious, here is what happened to me last Friday, as far as we can tell. During the colonoscopy I began to cough up this and that. Not food, because I had followed the preparations exactly, but mucus, phlegm, whatever. This can be serious, because when fully sedated you could suffocate or choke to death. The doctor wasted no time or effort in clearing it out, which is why my throat hurt - a lot - when I came to. During the day I was bothered because I was not feeling better, but in fact worse. By evening I had a fever that was severe enough that I was not able to think clearly. Back to the emergency room, where the PA remembered me from the January adventure with an infection in my back! He spent a long time with a heartfelt apology because he felt he had missed that diagnosis. So did everyone else. A chest x-ray showed a spot on my lung, so the determination was made that I had an infection that was the beginning of pneumonia! Overnight I got a lot of antibiotics and by morning it was under control and I was sent home with some OTC antibiotics for 5 days. Now the problem was dehydration plus pretty much not eating for 5 days. Also, the lower sides of my jaw were swollen and painful, which we now think was a result of the doctor aggressively yanking my mouth open to clear it out. No issue with the skill of the doctor who did the colonoscopy, but communication was sorely lacking. His partner swung by the hospital to OK my release and pretty much pooh-poohed everything that had happened, stating that is was no big deal and the pneumonia diagnosis was a bit radical. Excuse me? Anyway, full of praise for all the staff and Evergreen Hospital, who (again) were exceedingly kind, seemed to have all the time in the world to answer questions (I know they don't) and took such great care of me. So happy to be "normal" again! And relatively slim! grandmother of the bride dresses :)