Has anyone else needed to provide a stool sample for pre-op lab work? I've never had to do one before and it's kinda stressing me out! ?

I did one to test for a type of bad bacteria in my gut. They need to rid you of it before they can do the surgery. I was negative. Sorry but I can not remember which bacteria

no - I didn't have to do a stool test

Not for surgery but have done them to check for a bug in my bowel & for bowel cancer testing. It wigged me out a bit too but because of ‘you don’t play with your poop’ thinking. Once past the ick factor it’s not hard. You’re not actually touching it yourself cause you’re given a little scooper but you could wear disposable gloves. I found the blocked toilet afterwards more annoying (from having to line your toilet bowel with extra toilet paper or the provided shield so your poop doesn’t end up in the bowl water - they don’t flush away easily with low flush toilets).

I've done them for parasite testing, cancer tests, and bacteria testing, but for surgery they weren't required. I did do a breath test for H. Pylori though, which could be what they are looking for.

It weirds me out to do the stool tests but I'll tell you how I do it. I fill out the bottle labels. Open a trash bag and put it in the sink with the sides up the edges of the sink. Once I've used the bathroom in the plastic thing I nestle it inside the trash bag. Do the gloves and take the sample thing. Toss everything else into the bag, shuck the gloves, pull the bag sides up and viola, everything is disposed of!! I might have had to do these a lot for a GI condition I used to have that involved GI bleeding.... There is always a method to my madness.

The worst is keeping the first day sample in the fridge until you do the second day sample for the bowel cancer test. Yikes! Once you hit 50 the Australian govt sends you a testing kit every two years which you mail back. So that is a fun little visit to the post office to hand over the package so they can refrigerate it too.

Edited December 2, 20232 yr by Arabesque

47 minutes ago, Arabesque said:

The worst is keeping the first day sample in the fridge until you do the second day sample for the bowel cancer test. Yikes! Once you hit 50 the Australian govt sends you a testing kit every two years which you mail back. So that is a fun little visit to the post office to hand over the package so they can refrigerate it too.

I know what you mean! I had to do a few mail order ones for specialized testing, it is really strange to hand that off to a postal worker. ?

The weirdest thing I ever had to take to a lab though was a 24 hour cortisol test, where you have to collect ALL your urine for 24 hours in jugs and bring it back. And I am a water drinker. It took me a minute to find a bag big enough to hide the jugs in because they give you a clear bag! Why??