Not the Answer I Was Expecting

Yesterday I asked the question, how much variance can there be in how one's routed through a scanner? Turns out, quite a bit.

This was my first CAT scan at SCCA, and it was substantially different than the same procedure at Group Health. Since nothing in cancer treatment happens without your port being accessed, the day's appointment started with that. This time, though, the nurses were very concerned about confirming that I had a "power port," which I eventually realized had something to do with how they push the contrast agent. Since I do not carry my port card,* figuring this out meant they had to look at a prior scan to see what kind of port I had. Weird, but whatever.

The next be difference came with the contrast agent. Since the scan needs to show what's up with my colon and my liver, I need to have both oral and vascular contrast agents. At Group Health, the oral contrast agent was this thick goopy "shake" that you had to drink. SCCA, on other hand, uses 25 mls of the vascular agent diluted in a liter of water. I actually asked the nurse if they'd given me the right thing, since to me it just seemed like water -- a lot of water, but still just water. I did not miss the shake.

The scan itself was fairly similar to the previous rounds, but the transition back to the world was much different. At Group Health they just pulled the line from your port and pointed you to the exit. At SCCA they wanted to monitor me for twenty-five minutes before they'd let me leave. Apparently, while they ask you if you've ever had a reaction to a contrast agent before, they actually don't believe you're answer.

Oh last difference: at Group Health I would've had the results by now. I'm betting SCCA won't tell me until I see my oncologist next week. 


* I can't think of anything that would be more out of character for me than carrying the little ID card that identifies the brand of port I have. I'm almost 100% sure I threw that away the instant I got home.