One More Scan

There's just nothing like starting the day with two big bottles of Barium Sulfate Suspension - berry flavored. The label calls it a "berry smoothie." It came with a neat "bendie" straw.

I have to drink the stuff everytime I get a CT scan. I start two hours before the scan, drinking half a bottle every half an hour. It's chalky and kind of disgusting, and it's berry flavored. lol

It fills up my stomach and digestive systems so it stands out more on the scans.

I've learned to wince a bit everytime I'm presented medicine that is flavored. I've had cherry flavored, mint flavored, banana flavored, and now for the first time berry flavored. If the flavoring is helping - I'd hate to taste it without the flavoring. Whew!

I can't eat this morning until after the scans. They'll look at my chest, abdomen and pelvis. I'm hoping to collect the results of the CT scan and Friday's MRI by late tomorrow. The oncologist's office has been really good about getting me the reports.

And I'm due to get stuck by another needle this morning. My veins used to be so easy to hit with a needle. But since the Nexavar causes such dehydration my veins have become fairly elusive. It's become much to common for nurses to have to poke me with the needle a couple of times before they strike a viable target.

They'll inject contrast dye into me to highlight the insides even more. I'll spend the rest of the day drinking tons of water to flush out the dye. The dye is hard on my kidney, and I've only got one left.

All in all I'm likely to be exhausted by the time we get home. For some reason having to deal with the big hospital, the receptionists, the nurses, the doctors, just wears me down.