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  1. #1
    Join Date
    May 2005
    Location
    Tustin, CA
    Posts
    1,308

    My adventures with the PET SCAN

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    OK, as of Monday I never hear of a Pet Scan. I looked it up on the internet. It's some cool looking imaging system that uses nuclear something to record a image. OK so I show up for my appointment and am promptly taken in at 4pm. The technician says to me I'm his last patient. Good. I think, I'll be out of here in time to go ride my bike... he then says it will only take 2 hours. What? for some image? What da...?

    Anyway, he puts me in this big chair, inserts another IV (great 4th one in 5 days) takes first a blood sample and then he washes the line with saline and injects some radioactive stuff. I now have to just sit for an hour while he radioactive stuff courses through my veins. Geez how boring. He leaves the room and it's just me and all the ceiling tiles which I count over and over again. Thank goodness I get a call from my friend Richard. Not certain if I am suppose to be using my phone in there but at least it broke up some of the time.

    The technician comes back in and I say "bye" to Richard. OK he says, use the bathroom cause I need for you to lay quietly for an hour. OK ready to go. He places me on this metal table, puts a cushion under my legs and then asks that I place my arms to the side. He then places this weighted blanket under and over my arms, pinning them down. I am swaddled, cannot move. My entire face now starts to frantically itch. AARRGGGHHHHHH I'm in Hell! OH? did I mention laying on my back on a metal table is not comfortable!?

    So he shoots me through the machine. I barely fit. Yes I am a large person but not that large. Can't imagine how a guy with broad shoulders would get through the tube. He now leaves the room and I am left with my thoughts and listening to this horrible new age flute machine which drove me crazy. Didn't help the music also had babbling brooks sounds. So now I have to pee! I would much more have liked to jam to some alternative rock.

    An hour just laying there is a looooooooonnnnnngggggg time. I wish I could fall asleep but that's not my gift I was wired and wide awake. My face continued to inch. First my nose, then my cheek, next my chin. I just focused in on trying to make my face stop itching. Strangely the most soothing thoughts were those of Pip, the wonder cat. I imagine myself stroking his fur and that calmed me down, then like magic, some imaginary fur would fly up, land on my nose and that darn itching would start all over again. Drats!

    After an hour the machine was done doing what it does (whatever that is) and I was released from my cocoon. OK 2 test down and only 3 to go. Whoopee!!!! God loves to test my patience!
    BCIpam - Nature Girl

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Jul 2006
    Location
    Ohio
    Posts
    2,824
    Ah yes, PET Scans. I have had one. It takes an awesome picture, but is horribly boring and dreadfully uncomfortable. I had one so they could see what was happening during a migraine. Not overly fun at the time and just confirmed what the MRIs and CT Scans showed. I do hope you get more answers from yours.
    Jennifer

    “Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.”
    -Mahatma Gandhi

    "We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act but a habit."
    -Aristotle

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Jan 2002
    Location
    On my bike
    Posts
    2,505
    Tee hee - my husband has had several & says the face itch is awful. I guess it's psychological.

    I had a two MRI's for my spine. Found out I'm EXTREMELY claustraphobic, so they had to completely knock me out.

    My nose didn't itch -- maybe that's an option...?
    To train a dog, you must be more interesting than dirt.

    Trek Project One
    Trek FX 7.4 Hybrid

  4. #4
    Join Date
    May 2005
    Location
    Tustin, CA
    Posts
    1,308
    Several years ago I was ordered to have an MRI for a large hematoma on my leg. They put me in the tube and as it started to go in I realized just how cramped it was going to be - both arms went up and I pulled myself out. Think I startled the technician. Thankfully he decided I didn't need to go all the way in and left out my head, shoulders and arms. Frankly it's all bad. I used to like CAT scans but tomorrow am having me and just before must drink 30 oz of a chalky barium fluid. Well that'll take the joy out of it for me.
    BCIpam - Nature Girl

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Jan 2002
    Location
    On my bike
    Posts
    2,505
    B- What are they looking for?

    DM
    To train a dog, you must be more interesting than dirt.

    Trek Project One
    Trek FX 7.4 Hybrid

  6. #6
    Join Date
    May 2005
    Location
    Tustin, CA
    Posts
    1,308
    See my other thread on bowel surgery. I have colon cancer (just dx on Monday) and they are checking to see if the disease has spread....
    BCIpam - Nature Girl

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Jul 2005
    Location
    Seattle, WA
    Posts
    325
    bcipam

    I want to chime in here and wish you well regarding your tests and surgery. Thanks for sharing your experiences as I can only imagine how tough things are. Spending prayers your way.

    Carole
    Yes, SHE can.

    "Angels fly because they take themselves lightly"
    Gilbert K. Chesterton

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Apr 2006
    Location
    I'm the only one allowed to whine
    Posts
    10,557
    Bcipam - best wishes with the CA. (now I'll go read the other thread you mentioned) I'm thinking of you.

    I got valium for my brain MRI. (the head HAS to go in the tube for that one) I decided that valium is niiiiiiiiice....
    "If Americans want to live the American Dream, they should go to Denmark." - Richard Wilkinson

 

 

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