Glow in the Dark

8:53am
I’ve just come back from the hospital where I started the process for the bone scan. Reporting to “Nuclear Medicine” just seemed weird, like I was preparing for some space mission or something. After filling out a questionnaire, I was injected in the arm with radioactive material…not sure what’s in that mix but I wonder if I can glow in the dark now?!?! It takes about 3 hours for the mix to find its way around my body so I’m home for a while then due back at the hospital at 11am.

1:57pm
Well that was interesting. The machine that does the scan consists of a table you lay on which is about 18 inches wide and two x-ray cameras that move around you. (As soon as I laid down on the table, a Sheryl Crow song came on the radio…ironic.) First of all they tape your feet together so they don’t move during the scan. The machine then does a head to toe scan that takes about 20 minutes. Next they do a side view of your head that takes a minute or two. Finally they do a 15 minute scan where the x-ray equipment circles your body. For the last scan you’re suppose to have your arms above your head but because I don’t have that range of motion in my right arm yet, the technician decided to have me put my arms down at my side then strap me on to the table with this big velcro belt (because the table is so narrow it would be hard to keep my arms still for 15 minutes without moving). After the scans, the technician forgot that I was strapped to the table and the velcro belt got caught on the machine when she was trying to move it...ouch.

The scan was done at the South Street hospital, which I believe is scheduled to be closed down in the near future. Anyway, every time I go there, I feel like I’m in the insane asylum where they filmed One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. It’s kind of gloomy; has grey cracked and paint chipped walls, beige linoleum floor, basically void of any colour. (The surroundings in no way reflect the quality of care.) When they strapped me to the table, I chuckled to myself, but the kicker was when I was leaving, I walked by the waiting room and there was a guy there in an orange jumpsuit with his legs chained together and two police officers sitting on either side of him. I was happy to leave.

Have a good weekend,

Me

P.S. My loser comment last night was to be taken a little more tongue in cheek than I think it was interpreted (Mom). I’m fine…really.