It would be a good title for a political post – maybe something about Rudy or Gregg or Donald and his entourage. But it isn’t. It’s a post about DIY endoscopic videography.
Last week, I stumbled across an ad for an endoscope. It was advertised at <$13. I told my GI doc buddy about it and posited that the masses could now do their own upper and lower GI endoscopies, cystoscopies, bronchoscopies, and throat and nasal endoscopic exams. I was thinking that the endoscope would be properly cleaned between procedures, of course. Here’s a sampling of the devices available from Amazon.
We sometimes need to look for lost/misplaced items, and this kind of endoscopic snake would come in handy for looking in hard-to-get-to places, I thought. I looked at the available choices and finally decided on a snake one rung up from the $13 budget snake. This one has a rechargeable power supply and a WiFi transmitter. Its phone app pairs your iOS or Android phone to the snake’s camera, and you have video endoscopy! The resolution is fine, but it is no match for a medical-grade instrument. On the other hand, I’m not a medical endoscopist; so, the additional resolution of a high-end scope would be wasted on me.
Anyway, I have set up my new toy, and I have taken it to places where no man has gone before – under the washer and dryer, for instance. I’ve also explored under the couches where I found hair clips and cat toys.
Tomorrow, I may explore under our bed. If there are monsters there, this snake will be sure to find them.