After rescheduling several times, I had my two scans today-- a bone scan and a CT Scan with contrast. I get them every 3-4 months to monitor my disease. Let me be honest with you, dear readers, they totally suck! Today is the first time I scheduled them both on the same day and I think I will keep this my standard. The bone scan is done by the nuclear medicine department - (scary, right) something they get from nuclear reactors is injected into my arm. Then we have to wait 3 hours and then we scan. The scan itself takes 20-30 minutes. The worst one is the CT Scan with contrast. First you have to drink a few liters of a barium milkshake and then when you're naked except for the gown on the table, they inject some kind of blue dye into your arm. Except that for whatever reason, the CT techs can NEVER hit a vein. 3, 4 even a record 6 misses once left me sobbing on the table. What I learned to do is to go see my IV nurse before and get a pick put in. Problem solved. Except today the bone scan nurse was supposed to leave in a pick when she did my injection and oops she forgot. I had to go directly to my CT appointment and per usual the CT techs couldn't do it. My veins were "rolling" or "jumping away" they complained. I started crying out of the pain of the needles and frustration. Finally after 4th failed attempt they got a nurse to come in. She had to calm me down and get the pick in. I'm exhausted and feeling pretty nuclear reactive. Wasn't the Hulk created by exposure to radiation? I might like that.
1 comment:
The barium "milkshake" sounds just awful. Well, all of it sounds awful. I hope you have been treating yourself often and getting your nails done at that fancy Japanese place!
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