CT Scanner

My 3 month CT scan today at St Richards In Chichester. A CT scanner produces medical imaging using two dimensional x-ray images rotated round a single axis, building up a 3-D image for use in diagnostics. It is amazing and picks up changes as small as 4mm in the body .

This was a new scanner to me, going through feet first, after drinking a litre of ‘stuff’ to light up the insides. My scan covers chest to pelvis. The medical staff leave the room and speak through a microphone during the 5 minute procedure. A bit unnerving with the table moving you through and then back through the ‘doughnut’ or ‘polo mint’, a disembodied voice advising you to ‘hold your breath’ and ‘breathe out’. Part way through a drug is released automatically through a needle in your arm, causing a warmth to circulate around the pelvis which feels like you’ve wet yourself. Then of course it’s a battle to hold on until you can get to the toilet.

A week until the results. Ain’t technology wonderful….. 5 minutes mechanical test and a week for the radiologist to interpret it and get it to the oncologist. Not that I’m ungrateful, but anyone who has anything to do with waiting for results must know what an anxious time it is. I never get used to it.