Wednesday, December 3, 2008

Scans, scans, scans

It's been a scan-tific week here at Casa Wabi. Yesterday Little A had her chest CT, which probably took six seconds, but required us to not feed her for 12 hours ahead of time and then be at the hospital for several hours. That's because toddlers won't hold still for scans, so they need to be given IVs and sedated. Thankfully preparation for the scan was way more hoopla than the actual deed. I was a bit of a wimp, sniffling as they escorted me outside the CT room after Little A went to sleep. But aside from waking up from the anesthesia incredibly pissed off afterwards, Little A did just fine.

We should find out the results of the CT scan by Friday. I'm hoping the pulminologist is just test happy and abusing our good health insurance. In that case, the results should be that her lungs don't appear to have any growths or congenital anomalies. Then all of her respiratory problems this year could be safely chalked up to her asthma.

Maybe I should be more worried about the results. But for some reason, I don't feel worried. And I'm just going to go with that for as long as I can.

The other scan that occured this week was on me. My quest to figure out what the hell is wrong with my body continues, and so today I got a pelvic ultrasound to check for cysts, fibroids, and other oddities in the nether regions.

This is the first pelvic scan I've had as a nonpregnant entity, and I'd been hoping that the drink-a-bucket-of-water prep was something only pregnant ladies have to do. But nope, all women need full bladders for pelvic scans. Lucky us!

I have what one medical professional once dubbed very efficient kidneys. Which is a nice way to say that my digestive track, it processes water like Niagara falls. I can (must) pee out a glass of water within ten minutes of ingesting it. So when told I was to drink 48 ounces of water 90 minutes before the test and not pee until afterwards, I practically fainted at the thought.

So, I cheated on the prep. I scaled the water back to 32 ounces and drank it less than an hour before the scan. But even so the tech informed me that I had too much fluid in my bladder, and so I had to go to the ladies room to get rid of some. I'm not sure what was more satisfying --peeing out a fish tank's worth of water, or the feeling of vindication I had in blowing off the exact test instructions to begin with.

Anyway, the good news is that there wasn't anything noteworthy on my scan. Since my pain does seem more stomach/upper GI related than gyno, that isn't a big surprise. But still, it's nice to hear that I can cross some stuff off the list of possible problems.

Next up: food allergies? Can a person become lactose intolerant at the ripe age of 37?

6 comments:

Sara said...

Wabi, we have too much in common. We already know one thing. Beyond that, last year's RSV had led to this years bouts of pneumonia broken up by ear infections, every other week since mid-Sept. And I drink my water when I arrive for scans and still always have too empty a too full bladder just the right amount.

But still, I have the greatest sympathy for you and really, really hope the results of Little A's scan are the best that can be hoped for at this point.

Thinking of you, waiting to hear.

Wabi said...

Thanks, Beruriah. I'm so sorry that your little guy continues to struggle with infections. Thinking of you, too.

Julia said...

Oy, Wabi. This is entirely too much contact with doctors. Though good-good on your test result, and hopes for a nice all clear on Little A. If Cub's heart noise doesn't clear in 2 more months, we may have ourselves one of those sedated tests too...

Mama to Monkeys said...

Adhesions, maybe? Endo?

I hope they figure out the problem(s) soon. All this can't be much fun.

If they want to do laproscopic exploration, be sure to ask them to use an adhesion barrier to prevent adhesions from forming afterwards.

Rosepetal said...

I hope you get extremely boring test results all round. I also hope that one day Little A will grow out of her asthma which is what happened to me and my brother, and says goodbye to repeated chest infections forever. Well okay, maybe not forever, but you know what I mean.

With a bladder like that you must have been peeing every 5 seconds when you were pregnant.

Wabi said...

Oh yeah, Rosepetal, peeing frequency during pregnancy was RIDICULOUS!

Mama to Monkeys: Thanks for the tip about the adhesion barrier. I'm pretty sure I've got some adhesions, given that I've had mild pelvic pain since a few months after my rupture/c section. But it hasn't been so bad that I wanted someone to try to correct it. I've had one laparascopy before (to fix my uterus after it was perforated) and while it wasn't terribly painful, I tend to prefer to avoid being poked at if possible ... KWIM?

As for endo ... without surgery to confirm/deny it, I guess that's still a possibility. I don't fit the classic profile, though.