bearless in seattle

another scan day done. whew.
so the gift shop at scaa is only open for limited hours because it is staffed by volunteers. so on scan days i get my cinnamon bears before i go up for my scans because they aren't open by the time i am done. today i did my usual routine and walked in right before i needed to head up for my scan. my friend megan sent me a dollar all the way from california for me to specifically buy my bears with since she couldn't be with me to do it herself. but when i walked in i could see right away that the shelf where my bears normally are was bare. no bears. devastation. i didn't see it coming but i started to cry. i immediately felt it was a really bad omen for the scan. the women volunteering felt so bad for me, they even triple checked but they didn't have any in the back. no luck. so off i went to my scan with no bears. crappy start.

next i checked in for the scan and got my patient bracelet and filled out my paperwork.

i was then called back to the radiology section. first up is putting in my iv. you know i love that. got to taste the saline when they cleaned the line after taking my bloodwork. i got my liquid that i had to drink in one hour. two big containers of berry flavored yuckiness. i hate that stuff. an hour seems like a long time to drink two containers of liquid, but it is not a long time to drink this stuff. every.sip.sucks.and.it.feels.like.forever.

while i was drinking my special potion, i checked out people magazine and listened to music (thanks hooch for the new tunes). i would have loved to read the new book i started, but i can't concentrate before scans so magazines allow me to just visually skip around and not have to really pay attention to what i am reading.

next it was scan time. i always use the restroom before ct scans for two reasons: i just drank an enormous amount of liquid, and injecting the contrast always makes me feel like i am peeing on myself so i take extra precaution to ensure that doesn't happen. when i went to the restroom, i realized that i had put my sweat pants on inside out. seriously, how do i get myself dressed and out of the house everyday? i don't know either.

then i sat in a long hallway while they prepped the room for me. long. lonely. hallway. that is not a good place to be before you go in for a scan. you would think they would know that.

when they do the scan, they inject contrast solution into my iv. the contrast solution makes organs, blood vessels, and tissues more visible. but it also makes your entire body go from regular temperature to a very, very warm feeling inside your entire body. it is the strangest sensation and makes me teeter on the point of getting sick. when the sensation reaches my hips, it feels like i am peeing on myself. they tell me that others have the same problem, hopefully that is true and not something they just tell me to make me feel better. i still feel my pants every time i am done before i get off of the table just to make sure that i didn't have an accident. no accident this time either. thank goodness.

here are those ceiling tiles that i hate.

i then headed back to the waiting room and got my water and cheese, i was hungry since i had to fast for the scan. next thing i know the front desk attendant came in and handed me gummy bears and hot tamales that had been left for me. there was a little note from my dear friend ellie who had brought them to me since i had told her in a text message that there were no cinnamon bears. as you can imagine, i started to cry. i was able to catch (meaning i walked to the lobby, not ran with my iv in) ellie before she left and she stayed and chatted with me while i waited out the rest of my time in recovery. what an awesome, awesome, awesome surprise. they make me wait 30 minutes after the ct scan to ensure that i don't have an adverse reaction to the contrast injection and then my iv gets taken out. i had a good friend (ellie, the pic of us didn't turn out, long story) and good gummy bears to finish off my scans. big love. couldn't have been better.

when i got home, my mom had whipped up some tacos for dinner and had picked up some of my favorite gf snickerdoodle cookies from my favorite gf bakery. yum.

i also had a gorgeous arrangement of flowers waiting for me (thank you estradas).

when the mail was brought in, i had an awesome card from ellie that she had sent as fun mail (little did she know she would come to my gummy bear rescue). it is a card from curly girl design (you know i love those) and says "the world is full of people who will go their whole lives and not actually live one day. she did not intend on being one of them." love the card. love the sender. love the kind words inside.

i also got to hang out with my fam and to catch some sleep for about an hour. the stress had caught up to me, the lights were all on and there was plenty of background noise thanks to malena and dora. my stomach needed some rest as the liquid and the contrast never leave me feeling too well.

all in all, another scan done. a day filled with a lot of love and support through good vibes from peeps who love me and are sending me their good mojo. a girl couldn't really ask for more.

well....maybe just one more ask....good results tomorrow.