Health Update: I had a CT scan yesterday
As I mentioned in the previous health update, I had a CT scan scheduled for Jan 9, to basically see if chemo did what it was supposed to do.
I had a CT scan once before - that Friday back in June when a doctor from the Urgent Care center referred me to a Cook County Hospital emergency room. The whole thing has been a memorable experience, particularly the part where I was told point-blank that I would have to wait to get a CT scan until the gunshot victims have been processed.
(I saw one of those victims in the hallway, while waiting for the scan. He was with his girlfriend, who held his hand and didn't say a word)
Which is a long-winded way of saying that I kind of new what to expect - that they'll inject some kind of dye-type thing through an IV, that I'm going to have to hold my breath a few times and that I was going to get scanned several times. But I don't remember having to drink a whole bottle of the they-never-really-explained-what-it-was water-like liquid.
(An aside... As someone who wasn't born in this country and who still has something of an accent, I'm willing to cut a lot of slack to people who may not speak the best English. And I can live with doctors whose English I don't quite understand - I care far more about their medical knowledge. In Cook County Hospital, with its United Nations of a staff (I've been treated by doctors/nurses from Poland, Turkey, Columbia, India, Pakistan and Thailand - and those are just the ones whose nationalities I know), that has come up before. But it would still be nice to know what I as drinking. The bloody thing tasted alright at first, but after a while, the taste started getting worse. And worse).
The scan actually went fairly quickly - and it's a good thing it did, because, despite going to be bathroom before drinking the bottle, I wanted to pee so badly by the time the scans finished that I pretty much bolted for the restroom as soon as the doctor let me.
After I came back to get my IV taken out, the doctor told me to drink lots of water to get all the liquids I drank/got injected with out of my system ASAP. Well... Over the next few hours, I went to the bathroom so many times that I don't think I really needed it. Though I did drink more water and tea than usual (the former just to get the weird taste out of my mouth).
Now... as I mentioned in my last post, the results should come back some time next week. My cancer doctor told me to contact her if I don't hear back by Friday.
While she was pretty upbeat about my prognosis... As my mom taught me and my siblings, one must hope for the best and prepared for the worst. So I await the results with more than a little trepidation.
I had a CT scan once before - that Friday back in June when a doctor from the Urgent Care center referred me to a Cook County Hospital emergency room. The whole thing has been a memorable experience, particularly the part where I was told point-blank that I would have to wait to get a CT scan until the gunshot victims have been processed.
(I saw one of those victims in the hallway, while waiting for the scan. He was with his girlfriend, who held his hand and didn't say a word)
Which is a long-winded way of saying that I kind of new what to expect - that they'll inject some kind of dye-type thing through an IV, that I'm going to have to hold my breath a few times and that I was going to get scanned several times. But I don't remember having to drink a whole bottle of the they-never-really-explained-what-it-was water-like liquid.
(An aside... As someone who wasn't born in this country and who still has something of an accent, I'm willing to cut a lot of slack to people who may not speak the best English. And I can live with doctors whose English I don't quite understand - I care far more about their medical knowledge. In Cook County Hospital, with its United Nations of a staff (I've been treated by doctors/nurses from Poland, Turkey, Columbia, India, Pakistan and Thailand - and those are just the ones whose nationalities I know), that has come up before. But it would still be nice to know what I as drinking. The bloody thing tasted alright at first, but after a while, the taste started getting worse. And worse).
The scan actually went fairly quickly - and it's a good thing it did, because, despite going to be bathroom before drinking the bottle, I wanted to pee so badly by the time the scans finished that I pretty much bolted for the restroom as soon as the doctor let me.
After I came back to get my IV taken out, the doctor told me to drink lots of water to get all the liquids I drank/got injected with out of my system ASAP. Well... Over the next few hours, I went to the bathroom so many times that I don't think I really needed it. Though I did drink more water and tea than usual (the former just to get the weird taste out of my mouth).
Now... as I mentioned in my last post, the results should come back some time next week. My cancer doctor told me to contact her if I don't hear back by Friday.
While she was pretty upbeat about my prognosis... As my mom taught me and my siblings, one must hope for the best and prepared for the worst. So I await the results with more than a little trepidation.