This entry is called Part 3, but I haven’t written Parts 1 or 2 yet. I’ve started them, but not gotten finished yet. I know, it’s confusing, but it’s the way my mind works!!
Yesterday (Friday) I had the pleasure (NOT) of having a PIPIDA scan. When the doctor said “You need a PIPIDA scan” I of course, had NO idea what he was talking about so I had to Google it! Getting scheduled for the scan was another whole blog entry or may be best left alone. . . Short version – getting scheduled was a NIGHTMARE!
So yesterday morning I get up and my sister drives me to the Nuclear Medicine section of the clinic. It’s right across the hall from the pacemaker section, so you can imagine our company. The very nice lady calls me in back and starts an IV. Somehow, we start talking about school. That ALWAYS happens. . . She sticks in the IV, tapes my right arm so my elbow won’t bend and send me back to the waiting room. Of course I’m nervous and have to use the restroom. which is NOT easy with either of my choices – A) use my left hand or B) take care of everything without bending my right elbow!
Then, she calls me back. . .
A PIPIDA scan is a check of your gall bladder. If I’d actually already posted Part 1 and 2 on this topic, you’d know, I have been having stomach pains and nausea every time I eat since about April. Doesn’t seem to matter WHAT I eat, just the fact that I’ve eaten anything makes me miserable for about 30 - 90 minutes afterwards.
So, I have to lay on this little skinny tray that looks like what they roll out of autopsy room on TV. It’s long and skinny, and honestly, I was a little concerned about parts of me being too wide for it!! They give you a pillow and one under your knees and there is an armrest on each side, but they are NOT terrible comfortable! You lay under this big horseshoe shaped thing that has a big box under it.
The technician sticks some radioactive stuff into the IV. She told me, “This will light up your insides.” The big box moved until it was right over my belly. Then it moved down until there was only about a hands width between it and me! The nice technician said, “Okay, now it’s taking pictures.”
You have to lay there, lie there, until your gall bladder gets to a certain luminosity I guess. It seemed like forever and I seem to have lost all concept of time. I prayed for everyone I knew and listed them by name! I prayed about my job and our house and my daddy, for my church and all the people in it! I sang songs (in my head of course) and I may have even dozed off. Then she said, “You’re at 8, w hen you get to 12, I give you the other medicine.” So I started praying for everyone all over again!
Finally, I guess I was glowing inside to her satisfaction. She let me move my left arm,which was cramping and tingling up under my head which was MUCH better. Then it felt like she put a fire extinguisher in my lap. I’m not sure that’s what it was, but that’s what it felt like. I couldn’t see it, because of the giant box! She warned me that the next step might make me feel uncomfortable. She said “I’m giving you another injection. This one makes your gall bladder think you’re getting food. (I hadn’t had anything to eat or drink since midnight and it was after 10:30 at least!!) She said “You may feel some cramping or some nausea, so know that! This medicine takes 5 minutes to go in, and then we take pictures for 30 minutes.”
The big box moved so it was closer to my head and at a 45 degree angle. The stuff started pumping in. The fire extinguisher thing (which I assume holds the medicine) began making this clicking noise. I noticed that there was a particular rhythm to the clicks. Almost instantly, my old familiar pain came back. . . with some extra! I felt nauseous and spent the next 5 minutes praying “God please don’t let me vomit!” Thankfully, He granted that request! I could hear the rhythm change when it got to the end of the 5 minutes and then it beeped. The technician came over and took it out of the IV.
A while later, I was done. I guess it was 30 minutes, but again, I had no concept of time. I do know, when I came out it was almost 11:30 and we started about 9:40-ish I think. She had told me it would take at least 1 1/2 hours, but it would all depend on how long it took my gall bladder to light up. I guess it took a little longer than an hour for that part.
I left with a bandage on my arm and an ache from holding my right arm so still. I almost couldn’t get up off the little tray thing – there’s nothing to push or pull on and I’d laid so still for so long, I was a little disoriented. It was interesting, that’s for sure.
My sister took me to lunch – I was STARVING – and we came home. Now I wait to see the surgeon again, and see what he says. . .
