My nephrologst decided to do a CAT scan on me even though my condition has been stable.
He said it would only take about 30-45 minutes
That didn't go well at all. The tech tried to put an IV in my arm before the CAT scan and missed my vein so said he was going to go get a nurse to put it in. They needed the IV to shoot dye in my body to do part of the CAT scan. My doctor Doctor said the dye wasn't good for my kidneys but put in orders to use it anyway.
The lady that came in did an ultrasound on my arm first then tried to put the IV in and missed.
I asked her how long she worked there. She apologized and said 13 years. She said she was a paramedic for 13 years and they always called her if they have trouble getting IV'S in because if she can put in IV'S in a bouncing ambulance and people trapped inside smashed cars she's more qualified to get IV's in most people.
She tried a 2nd time to put the IV in and almost sent me through the ceiling. Instead a hitting the vein she hit my tendon and I had intense pain in my arm I almost jumped out of the chair and had tears in my eyes. She apologized again. She let me sit for awhile till the pain went away.
Then she turned on the ultrasound machine again and located another vein and this time got the IV in.
The tech came back in and took me into the CAT scan room and laid me on it.
He was good at explaining what was going on at each step.
He had me lay my arms over my head then they had me hold my breath and ran me through the CAT scan twice. You had to hold your breath and hold still each time you went through it.
Then he put a pillow under my legs and they scanned me 2 more times. Then he put pillows above my head to rest my hands on when I had them held above my head.
Next he made me lift up my right arm with the IV in it and he said 1st they were going to shoot some water in the IV to make sure it didn't leak before they put the dye in it. When that worked he said OK now I'm going to shoot the dye in.
My left arm was laying over my head and they had me hold my right arm straight up in the air while they shot the dye into my arm. They said hold still it'll take 70 seconds to run the dye through your body. You'll feel heat running through your veins as it moves. I felt that.
After that he said OK we're going to run you through the CAT scan 2 more times. Keep your arm straight up in the air this time.
He said we're going run you through 2 more times this time to focus on your kidney stones don't move.
Then he rolled me out and said you can take your arms down and relax. You need to lie there for 10 minutes until we review the results in case some are blurry we'll have to redo them before you leave.
Finally he said OK we're done
He said do you need some help getting up? I said yes.
He pulled the pillows out from where he had my hands on above my head and the pillow out from under my legs. Then he pulled me up so I could sit up. I was laying there for 40 min. I said I'm dizzy. He said that's typical just sit there and breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth.
In the meantime he started taking the IV off my arm and putting a turnequet over it. He said don't take it off for 30 minutes.
I asked him how long it'll take for the dye to get out of my system. He said 24 hours.
Finally he said everything looks good. You can go. I got up and walked out.
I finally took the turnequet off after 30 minutes. I had 4 red spots on my arm where they tried to insert the IV plus one swelling on one of the spots. The arm was sore and turning black and blue in that area.
I walked into the clinic at 7:30 for the CAT scan. Instead of a 30-45 minute appointment I didn't get home until 10:30.
I had to go in again the next day to have a blood draw where they inserted the IV for my oncology appointment next week.
I wasn't looking forward to getting another needle stuck in that area again
Thankfully that phlebotomist (person who draws blood) got the needle in and drew blood immediately and I was on my way back home in 5 minutes with no pain.
At least the CAT scan results showed no spread of the cancer which was good.
