My Fight with Breast Cancer

I had to be at The Mayo Clinic at 7:00 this morning.  This means, that I had to wake up at 5:30 to get there on time, and I was still about 10 minutes late because I underestimated traffic.  I don’t know how people do it every day.  I had road rage just from driving in traffic once.  (Oh, I should say that I work from home.  So it’s not like I don’t drive; I just never have to do it in rush hour.)  My anger might have something to do with the fact that I was told to “fast” this morning before my CT scans.  I don’t do very well with fasting.  Just ask my husband.  He’s in charge of my feedings.

Anyway, today I had several tests, and I don’t mind telling you that I’m exhausted.  When I arrived, I ran down to the Lower Level Radiology Department and checked in for my first CT Scan.  A nurse called my name shortly after and handed me what she called my “morning hour cocktail”.  She lied; there wasn’t any booze in there at all.  I sucked down a thick and disgusting white banana flavored Barium “drink”.  Then I was told to wait. 

Nearly 30 minutes later, I was led to an area so that I could change into a gown.  Then a nurse sat me down so that she could administer an IV.  (An IV?  Nobody told me there would be needles involved!)  Apparantly with CT scans, “contrasts” are used to help outline different areas of the body.  The barium drink that I was given would help my digestive tract to show up on the scan.  An iodine IV would help my blood vessels and lungs to show up on the scan.  I was pricked in the arm with the IV and they capped it off.  Then they led me to a room where the CT Scan was located and I was instructed to lie down.  I was positioned on the table and the nurse hooked up the IV line to a bag of saline.  At the opportune moment, the iodine would be fed through my vein causing me to feel flush and to feel like I just peed my pants.  Goody!

The nurse left the room and the scan began.  The table moved into the tunnel of the machine.  I just closed my eyes and waited.  A women’s voice (was it the nurse?  was it a recording?  I couldn’t tell…) was instructing me to breathe in, breathe out, hold my breath, and so on.  Finally, the Iodine injection came and a flash of warmth raced through my body down to my bladder.  I was absolutely certain that I pissed myself. 

Again, the voice badgered me about breathing and not breathing and then it was all over.  The nurse un-hooked my IV and removed the needle from my arm.  I jumped down off of the table and made a bee-line for the bathroom, but to my confusion I was completely dry.  No accidents after all! 

With that test out of the way, I had some time to kill before my next appointment.  Thankfully, my fasting was officially over, so I went to the cafeteria to eat. 

On a side note, I would just like to say that The Mayo Clinic has the best cafeteria in the world, ever.  I mean, this isn’t your average hospital crap.  My husband actually says he wishes it wasn’t 30 minutes away, or he’d eat there every day.

2 eggs cooked to order, hash browns, bacon and a Snapple:  $3.85