Down the 'Donut Hole'

All aboard! Today's tour stop was the Lindsborg Community Hospital for a CAT scan. Exciting, right???

I am pretty lucky to live in a small community that has a nice hospital. Most of my treatment will take place in Salina, but I am able to have a lot of my pre-treatment tests conducted in Lindsborg. It's so nice to leave 5 minutes before a scheduled appointment rather than 20-30 minutes.

I don't know if any of you have had a CAT scan, but to me, it was like sliding in & out of a giant donut. The Homer Simpson section of my brain kept thinking, "Mmmmm....sprinkles...", but sadly there was not a single sprinkle to be found. Prep for the procedure started the night before when I was lucky enough to drink 6 gallons of 'barium sulfate solution.' Sounds yummy, right? I know you're jealous.  What this stuff actually tastes like is the orange baby aspirin stuff we were subjected to as kids, before medical geniuses figured out how to make medicine taste like candy. A little bit of this tasty technology would be helpful right about NOW! I knew it was going to appetizing because the illustration on the bottle was of the digestive system...funky tummy and intestines strung all over that label. Gross.

So in the morning, I again, had to drink 6 gallons of the junk. Joy!  Okay, so it wasn't 6 gallons, probably about 20 oz. each time, but when something tastes like that, it seems like 6 gallons. I arrived at the hospital and was led to the giant donut room and had to change into a gown. By this time I'm thinking that I need to buy my own gown & have it personalized, save the hospital staff some laundry time.

I spend the next hour being poked with a needle for the 3rd time in 3 days & surfing back & forth through the donut, holding my breath when the polite computer voice tells me to. Between the sentinel node test 2 weeks ago, the barium & the contrast solution they injected into me today I am filled with enough radioactivity to be glowing, or at least sprouting a 3rd eye somewhere.

By the end of the CAT scan ended I was so starved that I went to the grocery store for  - coffee & DONUTS! And so that concludes the medical portion of our tour for today! Watch your step as you leave the train & step on to the platform.

I wanted to include a picture of something my youngest drew the other day:

 

This is a chalk drawing he did on the sidewalk in front of our house. He said it's our future - the three of us, a house of our own with a fire place & chimney, a playhouse & an apple tree. 

This is why I'm fighting. 

He's only 5 and doesn't understand the impact that drawing has on me. I had to take a picture of it before the rain washed it away. I'll probably frame it, so the three of us can remind ourselves each day why we're fighting. 

Have a good night & God Bless!

Marjie