A Very Relaxing Day ... Inside the Pet Scan Machine!

July 11

Today was another testing day and, of course, I was worried about this one, too.  Today I had a pet scan and an echocardiogram (a fancy name for a heart ultrasound).  There were lots of blessings on this day.  The main blessing was that my son, Jason, (who is moving from LA to DC) happened to be in town and went with the "precious duo" and me for my tests.  It's always nice to have a man around, right?

Here's one of my favorite pictures of Jason.  He's with my first grandchild, Clark, and his first nephew.  Awwwww.  Isn't it sweet? They just LOVE each other.  And, by the way, my son has an identical twin brother and I have an identical twin sister.  Odd, huh?

The pet scan had me a little rattled at first.  The tech who started the IV (before the scan) blew the vein in my hand.  I've never in my whole life had this happen and it hurt.  It was probably the worst hurt I've had through all of this, but still, it wasn't THAT bad.  After resolving that little bump in the road, she told me that I had to drink barium.  Oh, no one ever told me I'd have to do THAT.  Are you kidding me?  She told me I had a choice of flavors:  lemonade, grape, orange, pina colada, and a few more I don't remember. Then she said the magical words, "And whatever flavor I mentioned, the drink will taste exactly like it."  She wasn't lying, either.  I chose lemonade and it tasted just like lemonade!  I couldn't believe my taste buds.  I hadn't been able to eat or drink since midnight the night before, so having something to drink (with ice in it!) just made my day.

Before the scan, I went to a quiet room and the nurse injected two vials of radioactive dye into my IV for contrast during the scan.  The nurse instructed me to stay quietly in my big, comfortable chair so the dye could move through my entire body.  AND, she covered me with TWO warm blankets.  Heaven.  The wait for the scan was about forty-five minutes and I certainly can't complain about having to be still and comfortable in a quiet room.  Pure heaven!

The scan itself was another easy, peasy procedure. The bed of the scanner moves forward (or backward depending on your perspective) every two minutes until you're done ... about 8 times or 16 minutes in all.  Once your head comes out the other end, you can move your arms a little and look around the room.  It's not noisy either ... not at ALL like the dreaded MRI.  In fact, it was one of the most relaxing 16 minutes I've had in a long time!
I wish I'd had my camera because right above me when I came out the other side was a beautiful lighted image of leaves ... very relaxing and so, so nice.

Here's a picture of the actual pet scan machine they used for me.  The light right above the machine is the one with the beautiful images of leaves. See how narrow the machine is?  It's the BEST!