I'm sure I've told this story before, but I'll recycle it here. It'll show how "painless" the procedure actually is.

I went in for my first colonoscopy and of course. expected the worse. I made it through the prep, which was torture, then went in the next morning for the procedure. The nurse started getting me hooked up and the doc started explaining the procedure to me, then he turned the monitor so that I could have a good view of it, and started aiming the camera around the room showing me how it all worked. It was pretty interesting. Then the nurse asked me to follow her as she helped me off the gurney. She took me into a small room next door where 3-4 other guys were sitting, then we all started talking about what we should expect during the procedure. The nurse was sitting at a desk doing some paperwork and one of us finally asked her when they were going to get started and in what order we'd be taken. She looked at us kind of funny and said, "You guys are finished with the procedure, this is the recovery room!" We were just there so she could monitor us until the drugs wore off enough for us to be released! Not ONE of us had a clue we'd already been through the procedure. Man! Those are some GOOD drugs they use!