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Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Radiation is BAD!

This morning we went in for a HIDA scan.
We took the boys to my Aunt Bonnie around 8:00 - my appointment was at 8:15.
They wouldn't let Ryan come with me, because they didn't want to expose him to the radiation (what about me!?)
So he sat in the waiting room, read magazines and watched the "Today Show."
First the Dr. took me to a room with a recliner - he put an IV in my arm and then started feeding a radioactive isotope into my arm. He was talking to me the whole time - explaining the procedure and the function of the gallbladder.
All of a sudden I raised my hand and interrupted him - he said "What?" and I said "I think I'm going to faint!" he kind of chuckled and said "That's why you're sitting down instead of standing up." he said it so simple and matter of fact, but I felt like he was talking down to me like 'duh, of course you feel faint.'
He finished pushing in that tube of isotope and then went and got me a wet wash cloth to hold to my face while he put in two more tubes.
He let me sit for a minute before leading me to another room where they keep the HIDA scan machine. I laid on a bed that was raised up as the rectangular machine was lowered to rest about 6 inches off my abdomen.
Then I waited. I had to lay there for 35 minutes while the isotope made it's way into my gallbladder. He tilted the monitor so I could see - I saw the shape of my liver all lit up on the screen and watched as my gallbladder appeared and became larger and brighter on the screen, as it filled with the isotope.
After that part of the test the Dr. came and put more stuff in my IV - this stuff was supposed to make my gallbladder drain/empty and was by far the worst part of the test. He came in every 5 minutes and put another tube of the stuff in my IV - it made me feel very dizzy, faint and nauseated - it was no fun! - That part of the test lasted 25 minutes.
I watched on the screen as the isotope left my gallbladder and went through my intestines. It was neat to watch my body working, but it hurt and I couldn't move to make things more comfortable.
After the test I felt very sick. I was told that I had radiation poisoning but that it should wear off in a "couple of hours" now, I am just barely starting to feel more "normal" (although I still feel kind of yucky) and it's been nearly 7 hours since we finished.
So - radiation is bad! And can make you sick!

I hope everyone has had a better day than mine.

8 comments:

Cathy said...

Omigosh, that sounds kind of awful! I didn't have a super-great day, but after hearing this I think it turned out all right! :/ I hope you get feeling back to normal quickly...

Katy said...

holy cow! get a good nights rest - hopefully you'll be able to sleep the drugs off!

Callie, Shawn and Braxton said...

Wow! I'm sorry you have to go through this. I hope they find out something for you. That's just crazy. They still don't have any kind of ideas at all? Let us know what you find out. We'll keep you in our prayers.

Sara said...

Oh how absolutely terrible! It's so horrible to feel that dizzy and sick to your stomach. I'm sorry you had to do it all alone too, that makes it even worse. I hope they figure out the issue.

Shuman X Seven said...

Boy, I hope you get better soon, when do you get the results back?

Ravid said...

I hope with all of that misery, something worthwhile was accomplished and they figure out what's ailing you. And that when they do they can fix it. I'm so sorry that life is so rough right now!

Gavin said...

Eeeww....
Let's give you something that makes you sick in order to make you better. You've just got to love it. My recent experience with doctors leaves me with a bad taste in my mouth. It seems that they want to beat you up in every way they can as if in lieu of finding the actual problem they can just make a new one so that they can treat something.

Joe and Ellen said...

OH MY GOSH!! I had to do this test too a couple of years ago in Logan. I was so sick for months! Let me just tell you this... My test came out normal too. But I had so much pain and discomfort during it that Dr. Eskelson decided it was a 50/50 chance and took my gallbladder out anyway... It was infected and I felt 100% better as soon as I woke up! Maybe you ought to talk to them about just taking it out anyway. You don't need it, and it's an in and out procedure! Oh I really hope you get to feeling better!