For those not familiar, it goes something like this ...
>> First, you get a call ... "Hello, your CT Scan is scheduled for 3pm. Please arrive no later than 1:30pm" (ohh boy, is there gonna be a long line for this ride?) Then they inform you there's no eating or drinking 4 hours before your test.
>> On the day of your appointment, you give all your information to a hospital admissions clerk. (name, address, credit history, name of your firstborn...)
>> You wait, and you wait, while they process dozens of others (ok, maybe six ahead of me!) and then call you for blood work. If you're lucky, you get a nice nurse who doesn't prick you too hard, too deep, and gets it on the first try. ( "Whooops" isn't a good term to be hearing!)
>> Then you're escorted over to the CT Scan waiting room. And a handsome man nurse comes out and introduces himself, and hands you three bottles of barium, and a straw. (Like the straw helps to get it down any better?) Inside these bottles is a white runny liquid... looks like Milk of Magnesia and the label says "Banana Smoothie". Ohh yummmy! (not) The clock on the wall reads 2:15pm - so you have 45 minutes to get this stuff down. And since you haven't eaten, or had anything to drink since before lunchtime, Banana Smoothie sounds mighty fine. But .. imagine drinking liquid chalk, with a hint of banana flavor... the fake kind they use in candies. *shudder*
>> It's now 3:20pm and your barium "cocktails" are gone, and you've wandered around to use the bathroom, and stretch your legs, and generally kill time. And finally, they come get you, tell you the delay was because they were waiting on your "labs" and stick an IV in your arm. And you wait. and wait. And because of the machinery in this area of the hospital, the rooms are kept quite chilly. Add in a case of nerves, and you shiver from time to time (But the nice nurse brings out a warmed blanket to toss around you ... mmmm)
>> Finally, its time for the CT scan itself, and you shuffle back to the room with the big machine, and another nurse tells you to get on the table. The last time I had one, I had to undress and wear one of the lovely little gowns with a "peek a boo" backside! Luckily, they said Nope! Just hop up on the table and get all comfy like. OK. Its not easy getting comfy on a metal rolling table. But I know enough to find a good position that I can hold for the next half hour.
>> Nurse comes over and says she's gonna "flush my IV with saline".... And then we get started. Whrrrrrr goes the rolling table, up and into The Hole. and a disembodied voice floats over the PA ... "Ok, take a deep breath and hold it...." and you do, and the machine whiiiiines up and spins, and the table slowly backs out of The Hole. The voice comes back "Ok, you can breathe...." *whew* Repeat twice more.
>> Nurse comes back and injects the dye into the IV, saying "Ok, you're going to feel some warmth in just a few moments..." and like a surge, it fills your veins, and the warmth seems to start at the very core, and spread outward. (You know you're "saturated" when you can taste the coppery ickyness in your mouth.) Repeat above steps with the disembodied voice.
>> When they say you're done... you wonder ... are you really? You're left laying there while techs read what they've scanned of your innards. It's my hope that they're checking so that you don't have to come back and repeat all this because there was a fly in the wrong spot, at the wrong time!
>> Finally, Nurse comes back and disassembles the IV and wraps your arm and you get up and off the rolling table, sour taste in your mouth, and a wave of relief that it's over and done with.
(Gee, I can't wait to get the bill for this!!)
HUGS to everyone!
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