Pre-Surgery Tests

The day before my mastectomy, I had a CT scan and bone scan. The world of medicine and technology are so fascinating to me. It is literally mind boggling the things they can do now to examine the body and treat disease. I have often thought that I am glad I was born in this time period when medicine is so advanced, rather than during a time in history when doctors knew so much less and the techniques of treatment could be frightening, not to mention ineffective.

At any rate, before the CT scan I had to drink two cupfuls of a "syruppy" orange-flavored liquid. At first it tasted sweet, kind of like thick kool-aid and I thought it would be no big deal. But there was a weird aftertaste and before long I was having to utilize all my willpower to keep from throwing up. I thought I'd never down that stuff - whew! About a half-hour later, they had me come into a room with a huge doughnut-shaped machine and lay down on a long, narrow table that extended through the hole in the machine. They gave me instructions and left the room. I could hear the technicians talking in a windowed room behind me as I had the test. The little table slid way out to the front, and then slowly slid through the hole of the big "doughnut". A computerized voice would tell me sometimes to hold my breath, and then when to exhale. I had to be completely still.

Then the tech injected a dye into the IV port that had been put in my arm early that morning. It made my insides feel unnaturally warm, especially in my lower abdomen and groin area. A few more slides through the doughnut and I was done.

We then went to another part of the hospital for my bone scan. Early that morning the nurse had injected me with a small amount of radiocactive material that would show up on these scans. Initially, I was brought to a room with a huge, white disk-shaped machine. It was mounted onto two big "arms" so that it could be tilted up or down. I was instructed bend over, stand and lean my backside up against the disk so they could scan my hip bones and legs. I'm sure the technicians become accustomed to seeing patients in these funny, sometimes embarassing poses, but it was a little awkward for me nonetheless. Luckily you can have this test and remain clothed! The tech sat down at a computer and pressed some keys. Soon, a ghostly image of a pelvis and leg bones appeared that grew brighter and more detailed in 10-15 seconds time. It was me! I was looking at my own hip and leg bones. Then they had me sit with my head leaning against the big disk and I could see out of the corner of my eye a side view of my skull. This was so fascinating!

A few more scans and the technician left the room to prepare another machine for me to be scanned with. While he was gone, curiousity got the best of me. I held my hands up to the disk and watched as my hand bones appeared on the monitor. I put my whole arm up against the disk and saw my elbow and arm bones. I leaned the side of my head against it and opened my mouth wide to see my jaw. As I was doing this the tech came back in. He just smiled at me. I'm sure other patients have tried that, too! He took me to a room that was dimly lit with a long narrow table and huge white cameras mounted over and under it. I laid on the table as the cameras very slowly scanned me from head to foot. They moved so slowly I could barely tell they were moving. Overhead in place of typical plastic in front of the lights, there was a beautiful, brightly colored image of a flowering tree against a blue sky, like a spring day. It was silent and peaceful and I drifted off to sleep. When it was over, the tech woke me up and said "There you are." I looked at the computer and saw my entire skeleton on screen.