Breakfast of Champions

Today was my cat scan. The appointment was at 9:15am. That means I got up at 6:30am and started drinking my berry smoothie barium. It had to be completed 2 hours before the scan. The amount of barium was about 2 cups. Its white, thick and gross. When I poured it into a glass, it was chunky. I had to use a straw, and I had it in the fridge overnight so it was cold. If I ever thought I loved blueberries before today.... I don't think I like them any more. I drank as much as I could which was not all of it but most of it. Its anything but the breakfast for champions!! Richard took me to Longview Radiologists for the scan. I got signed in and was called back. I had to change into a pair of scrubs, put my belongings into a locker. Than the nurse took me back to the room where the machine was. There were a couple of surprises once I got in room. Number 1: There was a cup of room temperature barium to drink and Number 2: I had to have IV How come no one mentioned the IV??? After it was over, everyone I told said, "oh yah, I guess there is an IV they do"... thanks for the warning. The IV was saline and then they added iodine. When the iodine was added, one of the side effects according to the nurse is that your bladder will get a really warm feeling. The warm feeling is that you have to pee. Once the iodine is gone, the feeling goes right away. It was the weirdest feeling! The actual scan doesn't take very long. Maybe 10 minutes. I was on bed that was pretty comfy and you move back and forth through a machine that is round like a donut. Since I had not had the IV med before, after it was over they made me sit and drink a bottle of water with the IV port in my arm to see that I wouldn't react to it. They left the IV port in so that if they had to give me meds to counter act a reaction they could. I went in to work at noon and felt head achy I think due to the stress of it all, as I feel fine now eating a chocolate chip cookie! As for the bone scan from last week, I emailed my Dr. and got an out of office reply. She will be back tomorrow, hopefully then I will know the results. Tomorrow is the appointment for the consultation with the Radiation Dr. Since Richard has to work, my mom will be going with me. Its always best to have someone else with to make sure I hear it correct. One more test done! Yippee!