Some days are full of surprises and today was one of them............
The day started with getting ready for the CT scan. The instructions given by the nice woman over the telephone yesterday were fairly simple: take prorietary laxative the night before, don't eat for at least 4 hours and drink one and a half pints of water an hour or two before the scan. Easy! Thank goodness the water quantity was given in "real" units; I think that I might have struggled if I had been told to take 850ml..........
Not quite as easy as it might have first appeared though. Taking a dog for a 2 mile walk on no breakfast, with a pint and a half of water sloshing around inside you and (near as dammit) nothing else can be an interesting challenge!
Arrived early in the CT department, with my own plastic bag, and invited to take a seat in the waiting area. Summoned by a very pleasant, smily, chatty, radiology assistant and shown to a changing room just like the one in the MRI department. Same routine, remove most of clothes, don two gowns (one forwards, the other backwards; an interesting 19th century get up I am told by my in-house expert). Smiling friendly person was quite a surprise, but the real shock was the provision of a shiny, clean, new plastic bag to put my clothes in. Having been caught out last time when I had to use a second hand bag that had probably been used by at least 10 more people before me, this was a revelation!
Suitably attired and clutching my plastic bag, returned to waiting area. Waiting areas in Medway Hospital can be fun. We had a fun time comparing our glamorous attire, how long we had been waiting, and people commenting on how good e-cigs are (the one thing I kept on my side of the plastic bag). Summoned by a young man to the tiny treatment room............
The young man explained that he was the radiographer who would be "seeing me through" the experience and generally chatted cheerily whilst inviting me to present an arm. Vein identified, Cannula selected (didn't know they did them that long!) and inserted. Asked whether there were any side effects from the contrast medium (none) and told him about the MRI experience: he was horrified! We had a great chat about all sorts of things in a very short space of time and he promised that he would read this blog. I hope that you are.........you were excellent!
Back to the waiting area.............a few minutes later I was approached by a new "player" He asked me if I would mind waiting a little longer as they had an emergency case to fit in. "Would I mind" was a very good way of breaking the news to me that I was going to have to wait.
CT scan fine. Get onto the machine, cannula hooked up to a pump and advised that a) the machine would talk to me (she was American), and b) when the contrast medium is injected I will probably feel a warm glow. Spot on! If your central heating fails this winter, I would recommend this as an alternative way of keeping warm!
Advised that I would need to drink more water than usual for the next few hours. Call me naive, but I interpreted "you will need to......" to mean that it will be good for your kidneys to drink a little more water after having the contrast medium. From my experience, what it actually meant was "you should keep at least a gallon of water within reach at all times for the next 6 hours as you will have a raging thirst!"
Job done, another exchange with the chatty assistant whilst she removed the cannula. First person to refer to "people" rather than "patients". So refreshing, she should be cloned!
and back to the car...............
Hint: if you have just had a CT scan, are full of contrast medium and empty of food, do not go immediately to an important meeting! 'nuff said.........
Two more really good things before I reward your patience with today's specially selected Glasgwegian song....
Email from Specialist Nurse saying she hoped I had got on ok with the CT scan and that she had been over to the surgeons who would be onto my case at their meeting early next week. Well done to her.
Telphone call from my GP practice this evening to let me know that they had made a parellel referral to the surgeons at my request and faxed it over to them. Excellent service from Malling Health.
Not sure how surgeons react to receiving two referrals for the same person and the same investigations.........will find out next week!
Now the modern Glasgwegian folk song.......
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YRbfFZnJZYQ
For anyone who finds the accent a bit difficult to understand, an alternative, easy to understand, treat:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6RRv35Ig2mg
No comments:
Post a Comment