This was another first for me – other than having my teeth x-rayed at the dentist I’d never had any other scans before in my life. Upon arriving at the scanning unit I changed into a rather fetching hospital gown – luckily I was able to bring my own dressing gown to cover my modesty! I left Pats in the waiting area and the nurse showed me through to the scanning room.
As I entered I saw the large tunnel machine with a bed attached to it – just as you see in pictures and on TV. Unlike the poor lady who was before me, luckily I wasn’t claustrophobic so I wasn’t worried about actually being inside the tunnel. The appointment letter had said I could bring along a CD to listen to whilst I was being scanned so I handed over my Amy Winehouse Lioness: Hidden Treasures album.
The nurse fitted a cannula to my arm which she explained would be used to inject a dye into me whilst I was inside the scanner. I laid face down on the bed that had two plastic holes for the chest area that I had to position myself in. She explained that there would be two scans, one of which I would hear a noise to indicate that the dye injection was being triggered. She placed a buzzer in my left hand and said if I had any problems at all whilst I was in there I just needed to press the button and they would bring me out straight away. She did say they wouldn’t be able to inject the dye into me again on the same day so if I did have to come out I’d need to go back for another appointment.
She said I would hear some noises whilst inside the scanner and gave me a pair of headphones explaining that I’d be able to hear my CD through them and that I would also be able to hear her too. After they put the earphones on me and left the room I shut my eyes tightly. My eyes started to well up slightly as I was left all alone. Boy did this feel weird!
I began to feel the bed moving in what must have been a backward motion and the first track on the album started playing ‘Our day will come’. I immediately thought of Pats, thinking to myself that after all this is through our day would truly come. My mind wandered off into thoughts of our wedding day – the beautiful Italian setting, the gorgeous weather, our friends and family and that feeling of complete and utter peace and happiness. It’s always the place I go to when I have to take my mind off what’s going on- usually it’s whilst having my teeth drilled at the dentist and saying to myself ‘think happy thoughts, think happy thoughts!’
I continued to feel the movement of the bed swaying and various clicking noises were going on around me. Having the scan wasn’t painful in any way it was just the whole experience of being there, it made everything more real and to be completely honest I felt frightened. It was soon over and I got dressed and joined Pats again outside. All done…now we just had to wait for the results.
A Moon transiting through cancer 