Saga 2

I went back to Highlands Oncology today (12-21-2020) for a CT scan. I would say it’s a good thing I’m having a flare right now, because it’s always awkward to go to a doctor for a problem they can’t see. But I guess the point of the scan is to take a look at what’s going on below the surface anyway, so it doesn’t really matter if my adrenal glands were all blown up. We did imaging of everything from my neck to my abdomen.  

Due to covid, no one but patients could be in the building. I went to my last appointment alone, and was alone today as well. But I really hurt for some of the older and quite visibly suffering individuals who are in the depths of treatment, being wheeled around by staff instead of their loved ones, many of whom were literally pacing outside the building. 

The staff at the oncology center are top notch super kind and helpful. All of them.  They’re like the chick fil a of medical staff and it’s awesome. 

The barium was basically strawberry poison. I thought it would taste like a fake berry chalky protein shake, but it was more like drinking a huge bottle of berry cough medicine. It was pretty potent. And so much. I really cannot imagine someone who is already feeling nauseated being able to stomach that stuff.  I didn’t have much of a reaction to the contrast they injected into the IV during the scan...it sort of felt like I had peed my pants 🤣 but I hadn’t.  The scan itself was fine. Typically, patients have appointments right after to go over the images with the oncologist. I was a little disappointed to find out I’ll have to wait until January to know the results, but I’m extremely optimistic that there won’t be any problems and this is just s formality em route to diagnosing autoimmune.