The CT Scan

CT Scanning Machine

The next step was deciding what to do. My parents discussed moving me home. From what we understood about chemo and any kind of cancer treatment, it zaps you of all ability to take care of yourself. My lease was almost up at my apartment, so my dad called the leasing office and made arrangements for me to move out. We had a few of my girlfriends come over to help pack and clean up, because I was always exhausted. Dawn, my upstairs neighbor; Kim, my co-worker; Linda, another friend; Rachael, one of my best friends; mom and dad; everyone went to work cleaning my apartment and packing all my junk. When I unpacked several years later, hardly anything was broken; they did a fantastic job. Everything I had was put into storage, except for a few things that I may need, and my clothing.

We made an appointment with another doctor, my new oncologist. My oncologist was an Indian man named Dr. Sapra; a very nice man, although we had a little trouble understanding him at first. He had a very thick accent. His office seemed a little disorganized, but he knew what he was talking about. According to the results of the biopsy, I had a rare form of Hodgkin’s Disease, and he had never treated it before. But it was fully treatable, there just had to be some board consultations about which treatment to do. First, though, I had to be “staged.” Staging is when doctors run tests to figure out how far the disease has progressed. Once this is done, it is easier to determine how much, and what type of medication to use. I had to have some blood tests, a CT scan, a Gallium Scan and a bone marrow biopsy.

Dawn took me to work the morning that I had to have my CT scan. Dr. Don had prescribed some Valium to me because I was afraid I would have a panic attack in the CT machine. I was to not eat all day, and take my Valium about a half an hour before Dawn came to pick me up. Dawn dropped me off at the hospital and went to meet a friend to give her a ride home.

It took me a bit to find the Radiology room, I kept getting lost. I got more and more nervous not being able to find where I was supposed to go. So I wandered around the second floor, looking for this room and finally came across it. The door said, “Do not enter.” I waited. I was a couple of minutes late because I had been lost, but it looked like someone else was in there. I looked in the shades to see what I could see, which was not much. Finally, someone came outside and told me it would be just a few minutes. They had to finish up with the previous patient.

The tech finished and took me into a huge room. It was almost empty except for come counter tops and a long, thin table that was partially encircled by a large, white metal donut shaped thing. I figured that was the CT scan machine. I was told to sit down. He had to put the beginnings of an IV in my arm. This was for the contrast. It was iodine. I also had to drink another cup of horrid tasting Barium, which I had to drink the night before as well as right before I left work. It tastes and feels so nasty, that I almost threw up every time I had to take a sip. It took a lot of self control not to.

Once the needle was inserted into a vein, I was taped up so it wouldn't slip and I was asked to remove anything metal, and change into a hospital gown. The tech had me sit down on the table, bend my knees and slide a triangular bolster under. Then he covered me with a blanket, because it was really chilly in the room. Then he had me raise my arms above my head, and attached the IV to my needle.

He checked the sound from the machine to make sure I could hear his instructions, and away we went. I sat like this for almost two hours, while the tech told me when to breathe, how to breathe and when the contrast was coming. I could not move, but I tried to read all the warning labels on the machine itself. “Do not stare into the laser.” “Radioactive Isotopes in use” If I wasn't so tired, it probably would have been funny or even interesting to me.

It came time for the contrast. No one had told me how this would feel, except that I might get kind of warm, and asking if I was allergic to iodine. As far as I knew, I wasn't allergic to anything. So I was warned that it was coming. It was definitely warm. So warm from the inside of my body, it made me uncomfortable and a little sick to my stomach. It felt like it was coming from the outside of my body in and then from the inside out; I felt like I had wet my pants. Suddenly, the feeling stopped. The iodine had stopped dripping, and I was done.

The tech checked on me to make sure I was ok. I was, just really sleepy by this point. And told me I could change and I was free to go, once he removed the needle from my arm. As soon as I changed, I went home and went to bed.