Barium Free Scan Day

Today was a day filled with scans and tests in preparation for the last round of injections of the PRESENT trial on Monday. I have had my crazy pants on for quite some time, but they really escalated this week with the dread of having to drink mochaccino flavored barium. Earlier in the week I put my laundry in the dryer and forgot to turn it on. It is definitely less effective this way. My intake of chocolate has also increased. I may have been eating it to protect against the down trend in chocolate consumption that usually follows mocha flavored barium.

Because last year they wouldn't let me have a CT scan without my urine test, I made sure yesterday to get that done ahead of time. I did this in order to minimize the interruptions as I had fairly tight schedule today:
8:45 am injection for bone scan
9:00 am arrival at CT scan for drinks
10:00 am CT scan
11:15 EKG
11:45 bone scan

The day started out with an IV placement, which is always an adventure for me. There was a student in nuclear medicine and I am sure they saw my age and thought that I would be great patient for her. I told her that I was a left arm only and you could see her be startled a little bit. I pulled up my sleeve and let her know that I am a known hard stick. She turned on her heels, looked at her preceptor and said I don't think this is a good idea. I appreciate her unwillingness not to stick me 100 times. Her preceptor than tried and failed. They were getting ready to call the IV team when my usual nuclear med technician came in. She asked me about how work was going, grabbed a hot pack and had an IV in me in under a minute. She than asked me when I was coming in for my MUGA (heart) scan I told her I would be in on Monday. Only two sticks, starting off with a win. They injected me with the radioactive technetium and I was on my way to the next appointment.

Next up, I headed over to CT scan with the impending dread of what the barium does to my GI tract. Checked in and sat and waited for them to walk in with the the liter of heavy chalkiness. And then something wonderful happened. The CT tech walked in with a 1 liter plastic cup filled with a clear liquid. Now, as I couldn't have anything to eat or drink after 6 am I am super thirsty and wondering if I might be hallucinating at this point. I ask her with the enthusiasm of an 8 year old in a candy store "No barium!?!?" and she responded "Nope, they've phased it out". I checked my wrist band 6 times to make sure I was registered for the correct test and every time it said CT abdomen, pelvis and chest. This was really happening. I tasted the omnipaque (the clear liquid contrast that I had to drink) and it tasted like stale water with a slight hint of pen. But, it was light, it didn't cause me to gag and was easy to drink over an hour. My excitement over not having to drink the barium was hard to contain. The other folks in the waiting room were likely confused by my grinning and happily drinking the giant container of clear liquid.

During the CT scan there was some difficulty with my IV and the tech needed to hold it in place while the contrast was injected, but it didn't infiltrate and I still felt like I was peeing my pants, so we knew it was working. You know what the best part was, I didn't have to drink any barium! They were happy with the pictures and I was on to my next test.

I went up 3 floors to have my EKG done. The EKG tech asked me if there was anesthesia in the test I just had. I told her that the contrast dye just made me feel a little weird. She told me as she was locating all of the clips that her husband was allergic to contrast dye. By the time she was done telling me this, she was already unhooking everything because the test was done. I forgot how fast those were.

Because I didn't have to drink barium (did I mention that) I went and got a snack and started drink water to flush all the contrast out of my kidneys. I may have been a little over zealous with drinking the water. The grand finale of Scan Day was my bone scan. The student was back to get me all set up. She was less timid this time. She set me up for my first scan, which involves the machine being 1 cm from your face to start with as you move along a conveyor as they take the pictures of your bones. As I was watching the machine slowly come away, I started singing in my head, Gloria Estefan

And as I watched my bones assemble on the tv screen (still makes me think of Mike TV from Willy Wonka) I could see me exceptionally full bladder light up the screen. As I tried not to squirm so they could finish the whole body scan, I asked the student that before we did the chest scans if she could let me go pee. After she undid all the straps (yes they strap you down) I sprinted to the bathroom and then came back to get strapped down and have my chest scans. 

And then I was done. No mochaccino burps. Free to drink water without being strapped down. Free to take a nap. 

Now all I have left is a heart scan and a round of injections and then I can be declared NED. Monday at 3 pm will be glorious.