Two Down....
Well, hospital days as we call them here are always tiring. I am learning not to schedule anything else any day that I need to head over there.
We arrived at around 9:15 and headed toward the nuclear medicine wing where Nurse Mary Loveless inserted an IV. She then flushed, and did 3 injections. I was then free to head upstairs to the CT scan area where I was given 2 bottles of beri-smoothie. Trust me when I tell you, this is not something that will come out of my kitchen anytime soon.
The instructions indicated that the 2 bottles would serve me five glasses of this lovely barium suspension and that I should drink one glass per 15 minute interval. The final glass would be taken into the scan room with me for a final chug. Okay, this stuff is downright nasty and it doesn't get better as it starts coming up to room temperature.
The CT scan machine, made by GE Electric, isn't particularly scary. The room is kept somewhere between a freezer and a refrigerator and I was given a flannel sheet to cover my body during the scans. There was some concern when my allergy to shellfish was discovered, but once we moved past that I had one scan with the contrast dye and two without.
Left with an hour break and strict instructions to start drinking water, we took a walk to pick up drinks and a sandwich.
The bone scan was more of the same except that I was restrained in two places to the table so I was unable to move. The first scan took 20 minutes, and then the wait for a doctor to review the pictures. Yup.... they wanted more shots. This second scan concentrated on my torso. I snuck a peak at the pictures, and something was glowing. A few tense minutes of waiting before a doctor came and explained that I have significant degeneration of my upper spinal column.
This young resident wasn't prepared for all of my questions, and in fact, wasn't willing to answer. I did get him to reluctantly state that this degeneration could be caused by years of playing the violin.
It will be interesting to see what my 'real' doctors think about this spot. So, the bone scan doesn't show any signs of bone mets. The CT scan results should be available Thursday or Friday. I am not concerned though. These tests are a precaution. No one is expecting to find anything horrid.
Back on Thursday for one more.
We arrived at around 9:15 and headed toward the nuclear medicine wing where Nurse Mary Loveless inserted an IV. She then flushed, and did 3 injections. I was then free to head upstairs to the CT scan area where I was given 2 bottles of beri-smoothie. Trust me when I tell you, this is not something that will come out of my kitchen anytime soon.
The instructions indicated that the 2 bottles would serve me five glasses of this lovely barium suspension and that I should drink one glass per 15 minute interval. The final glass would be taken into the scan room with me for a final chug. Okay, this stuff is downright nasty and it doesn't get better as it starts coming up to room temperature.
The CT scan machine, made by GE Electric, isn't particularly scary. The room is kept somewhere between a freezer and a refrigerator and I was given a flannel sheet to cover my body during the scans. There was some concern when my allergy to shellfish was discovered, but once we moved past that I had one scan with the contrast dye and two without.
Left with an hour break and strict instructions to start drinking water, we took a walk to pick up drinks and a sandwich.
The bone scan was more of the same except that I was restrained in two places to the table so I was unable to move. The first scan took 20 minutes, and then the wait for a doctor to review the pictures. Yup.... they wanted more shots. This second scan concentrated on my torso. I snuck a peak at the pictures, and something was glowing. A few tense minutes of waiting before a doctor came and explained that I have significant degeneration of my upper spinal column.
This young resident wasn't prepared for all of my questions, and in fact, wasn't willing to answer. I did get him to reluctantly state that this degeneration could be caused by years of playing the violin.
It will be interesting to see what my 'real' doctors think about this spot. So, the bone scan doesn't show any signs of bone mets. The CT scan results should be available Thursday or Friday. I am not concerned though. These tests are a precaution. No one is expecting to find anything horrid.
Back on Thursday for one more.
posted by *susan* at
9:09 PM
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