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Wednesday, March 15, 2006

Definitely a full moon

Ok. Today was not one of those days that I would recommend Kaiser. This happens every once in a while and when it does, it is a really BAD day.

Today I had my MUGA scan. This is my 4th one since I have to get them every three months to check my heart and make sure that I can continue chemo (which is damaging to the heart). At my last one, I did very well which was a relief since, at the one before, my heart had shown severe damage and I was told that I would most likely not recover. With the help of Quigong, Yoga, healing and nutrition, I did recover. My doctors were amazed and kept asking me how I did it.

With that in mind, I didn't give much thought to today's test. Just another routine test in nuclear medicine. All my appointments were set up and confirmed so I thought I would be just fine. My first appointment was at 1:00 in the infusion room to get my port accessed. That is when they stick a needle into the port in my left chest to get a line into my vein. The needle is connected to a line with two other needles ports on them for injecting "stuff" or drawing blood. I feel somewhat like an alien walking around with these lines hanging out of my chest. I arrived at 1:00 and signed in. The nurses kept coming out and calling people but they never did call me. 35 minutes later, I asked one of the nurses when I would be called. She told me just to go on back to the infusion room. I walked back to the infusion room and, of course, the nurses there asked me why I was there. I said that I had a 1:00 appointment to have my port accessed. They looked around and found that my paper and card had been put aside on the counter because they "didn't know what to do with me". If I hadn't asked, I might still be sitting there. Anyway, finding the paper didn't solve the issue since they did not have a referral from my doctor and therefore couldn't access my port. I told them that I was in the computer and carrying my port card but they only said that I didn't belong to their facility so it didn't matter. I had to sit while they called my doctor and got him to send over a referral. His response was they same as mine, "I thought we could all handle the same patients" but he sent over the referral right away. At long last, one hour later, at 2:00, my port was accessed.

I then hightailed it over to the hospital tower to Nuclear Medicine for my MUGA scan. This will be the easy part, I thought. I arrived at 2:05 for my 2:00 appointment. The admin checked me in. There was no one else there except for the 3 Nuclear Medicine techs who were, within my sight, talking, laughing, joking with each other and stocking the office. I sat and sat and sat for 1/2 hour. No one said anything to me the many times they walked by. I finally asked when they would be ready for me and they told me that they were still setting up. As far as I could tell, they were still waiting for the punch line on the last joke. No one was setting up anything.

At long last, one of the techs called me in and then didn't know what to do with the port lines to draw my blood. This wasn't the first time I had come in with my port and they were the same techs. She had to go get permission and directions to draw off my port line. Of course, I heard the entire conversation. Finally, she came in and began to draw the blood. I cannot explain her movements during this whole process except to say that the word molasses comes to mind. After drawing, I asked her how long it takes for the blood to process (they inject a radioactive substance into it). She said 20 minutes, no maybe 25. They don't know?

I sat and sat and sat again. 35 minutes - presumably with my blood "processing" the entire time. Finally, she called me in and, ever so slowly, opened my port and injected my blood back into me. I then had to put on one of those evil hospital gowns, front forward so that half of your chest is hanging out and go lay down on the, very cold, scan table. I asked for a blanket as I lay there shivering. They strapped me in and in I went to the machine. I lay there half asleep. This machine is very quiet. You don't hear anything. The scan was run which takes about 3 minutes. I continued to lay. At last, she came in and said they needed to take another picture. Back I went into the machine. In the background, I could hear the three of them talking. Something about the processing time, the angle of the machine, the level of the bed I was laying on. Anyway, it sounded like a big discussion over a big mistake. Finally, they pulled me out of the machine and told me I was finished.

I asked how I did and the tech told me that they couldn't tell me and that my doctor would talk to me. He then asked if I was already checked in as a patient to the hospital. I said no.

Then, I told him, "Okay, so now you have me worried. Can't you give me a preliminary number? I always received one before." He told me that they weren't authorized, then asked me what my number was before. I told him that it was around 60 and he just said oh and nothing more. Then, he told me again that my doctor would be contacting me. By this time, I was really worried. The girl who had done the injections and run the scan just sat there looking at me with a sad, guilty face.

At this point, whatever the scan says, I am not sure that I will believe it - especially if it is bad. I will request another one because I don't have confidence in how this one was run. Lets just hope it turns out good and I won't have to give it another thought.

I finally left the hospital 4 hours after I entered it. And my friend, Debbie, reminded me that today was a full moon.........

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