Of CT Scans and Staples

Is there anything worse than having to wait hours in a hospital/doctor waiting room?

That was my day in a nutshell. I had an appointment for a CT Scan this morning. For those of you unfamiliar with the experience, patients are usually required to drink bottles of water containing a metallic element, I believe Bromide. This help the radiologist get a better picture. Well my urologist didn't believe it was necessary, so I never got any of the bottles. When I arrived, the radiologist decided i should have them - three bottles, one every hour. They gave me one to drink there, and one to take with me. I was to come back in two hours and drink the third and final. So that's two hours right there, which my wife and I spent picking up some item at Wal-Mart.

Finally when it was time for the scan I went in, to be pleasantly surprised by the fact that I didn't have to change into one of those horrid hospital gowns. I laid down on the CT bed, and got scanned. It was a little weird, especially when they injected me with a solution that made me warm all over and, to be perfectly blunt, gave me the sensation that I had wet myself. Fortunately the experience lasted about 20 minutes, and I was out of there quickly.

From there, I had to go to the urologist and get my staples removed. His office was packed and we ended up waiting there for 2 hours. It is at this point that I'd like to mention i had not eaten anything in about 9 hours, and had three bottles of water in me. Eventually I did get in. Dr. Beebe informed me that the CT scan looked good and he was 95% sure everything was as it should (No CT scan ever comes out perfectly clean, but what was found in my scan was not cause for alarm.) Snip snip went the staples, replaced with a sticky tape.

Next up is a date with an oncologist, which will get set up tomorrow. I also have another follow up visit with Dr. Beebe in a month.

I continue to feel well and in good spirits. I can pick up my daughter now, and sneezing is no longer unbearable. Thanks to all for the well-wishes and prayers!