I had a CT Scan today
Oct. 12th, 2021 11:37 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
disappointed_lesbianI don't feel very attached to this journal. I'm going to try to post regularly. I'm still grieving my previous livejournal.
One unanticipated issue with this new journal is that I have to give background information about myself to make some things understandable. I didn't feel the need to do that so much with the previous journal because that information was scattered throughout the journal in several different posts, and because I had just a few readers, long-time readers, who I thought knew some of the background information I needed to include. But perhaps I flattered myself in terms of how much I thought they read the journal. No...not really. I imagined that some of them did some of the time, but I didn't really take it for granted.
Anyways, new readers wouldn't have known the background info anyhow, so I still should have included it. And I want that to make me feel more motivated to include it in this journal as well.
Enough asides:
I'm a veteran, or, rather, I have veteran status. That means that I served in the military and now receive certain benefits because of that service. I actually got kicked out of the military very early for medical shit, so I never really did any of the work I was trained to do (aircraft repair stuff). But I somehow still got veteran's status, and that means I'm entitled to lifelong medical care at the veteran's medical facilities, which I call the VA (VA actually stands for Veteran's Affairs and includes all veteran's benefits, not just medical benefits).
More background: I have IBS. It started three or four years ago, apparently as a stress reaction. The VA is treating me for IBS. My care was interrupted when the cov broke out, but now I'm trying to get treated again. Since it's been a while since I've been seen at the VA, my primary care doctor decided that I should have a CT scan to see where I'm at/what new problems may have arisen.
Today I went to the San Francisco VA to have my pelvis and abdomen CT scanned. I have another medical condition that the scan is for, but for some reason I find that condition disturbing to mention, so I won't mention it.
My appointment took much longer than it should have because the nurses couldn't properly place an IV in my arm. Some of the scans of my body were to be done with a contrast (which is like an internal ink or die), and the contrast had to be administered intravenously. I got poked in both arms with thick needles. Although the second poking seemed to be adequate, I was in pain when the CT scan...person (I'm so out of practice with writing) flushed saline solution into my vein. Why they do that, I don't know.
So the CT technologist sent me back to the nurses, and the nurses called in the PICK team, which used ultrasound to find a good vein. The second nurse who had poked me told me that my veins were shallow. The PICK team guy said my veins were deep. Yikes. The pick team went through a fancy sterile procedure that looked like surgery preparation to give me lidocaine (some kind of anesthetic) to ease the pain, then put an extra long needle into my arm, then discovered that I needed more lidocaine, then finally I was sent back to the CT scan room.
I was there for nearly two hours even though I'd arrived about twenty minutes early. I had three buses to catch, and I wasn't able to catch the one out of SF early enough, so I missed my last bus, which is the bus that takes me to my hometown. So, at eight-thirty PM, I had to walk four and a half miles, from one town to another. There's a trail between the two towns, but it's unlit and isolated, and homeless guys sleep near it. I decided that walking along the highway would be safer.
The noise of traffic, the bright headlights in my eyes, the uneven earth on the side of the road, and almost getting hit by a car at the one intersection along the whole route made this a not-very-pleasant walk, but I made it home feeling better than I'd feared I would (I was afraid I'd end up with a migraine, especially since I'd barely eaten anything all day).
The trip could have been a lot longer since I was coming from the downtown area of the neighboring town, but I caught the very last local bus to the edge of town, and that shaved miles off my walk. The bus drivers were helpful and told me where to get off and how to get to the trail (that I ultimately decided against, but it was right next to the highway I took, so the directions were helpful anyhow). The driver of the bus I was on even offered me food! I was very grateful because I'd eaten almost nothing all day. She gave me a back of chips.
Shit, it's past midnight.
My arm hurts.
One unanticipated issue with this new journal is that I have to give background information about myself to make some things understandable. I didn't feel the need to do that so much with the previous journal because that information was scattered throughout the journal in several different posts, and because I had just a few readers, long-time readers, who I thought knew some of the background information I needed to include. But perhaps I flattered myself in terms of how much I thought they read the journal. No...not really. I imagined that some of them did some of the time, but I didn't really take it for granted.
Anyways, new readers wouldn't have known the background info anyhow, so I still should have included it. And I want that to make me feel more motivated to include it in this journal as well.
Enough asides:
I'm a veteran, or, rather, I have veteran status. That means that I served in the military and now receive certain benefits because of that service. I actually got kicked out of the military very early for medical shit, so I never really did any of the work I was trained to do (aircraft repair stuff). But I somehow still got veteran's status, and that means I'm entitled to lifelong medical care at the veteran's medical facilities, which I call the VA (VA actually stands for Veteran's Affairs and includes all veteran's benefits, not just medical benefits).
More background: I have IBS. It started three or four years ago, apparently as a stress reaction. The VA is treating me for IBS. My care was interrupted when the cov broke out, but now I'm trying to get treated again. Since it's been a while since I've been seen at the VA, my primary care doctor decided that I should have a CT scan to see where I'm at/what new problems may have arisen.
Today I went to the San Francisco VA to have my pelvis and abdomen CT scanned. I have another medical condition that the scan is for, but for some reason I find that condition disturbing to mention, so I won't mention it.
My appointment took much longer than it should have because the nurses couldn't properly place an IV in my arm. Some of the scans of my body were to be done with a contrast (which is like an internal ink or die), and the contrast had to be administered intravenously. I got poked in both arms with thick needles. Although the second poking seemed to be adequate, I was in pain when the CT scan...person (I'm so out of practice with writing) flushed saline solution into my vein. Why they do that, I don't know.
So the CT technologist sent me back to the nurses, and the nurses called in the PICK team, which used ultrasound to find a good vein. The second nurse who had poked me told me that my veins were shallow. The PICK team guy said my veins were deep. Yikes. The pick team went through a fancy sterile procedure that looked like surgery preparation to give me lidocaine (some kind of anesthetic) to ease the pain, then put an extra long needle into my arm, then discovered that I needed more lidocaine, then finally I was sent back to the CT scan room.
I was there for nearly two hours even though I'd arrived about twenty minutes early. I had three buses to catch, and I wasn't able to catch the one out of SF early enough, so I missed my last bus, which is the bus that takes me to my hometown. So, at eight-thirty PM, I had to walk four and a half miles, from one town to another. There's a trail between the two towns, but it's unlit and isolated, and homeless guys sleep near it. I decided that walking along the highway would be safer.
The noise of traffic, the bright headlights in my eyes, the uneven earth on the side of the road, and almost getting hit by a car at the one intersection along the whole route made this a not-very-pleasant walk, but I made it home feeling better than I'd feared I would (I was afraid I'd end up with a migraine, especially since I'd barely eaten anything all day).
The trip could have been a lot longer since I was coming from the downtown area of the neighboring town, but I caught the very last local bus to the edge of town, and that shaved miles off my walk. The bus drivers were helpful and told me where to get off and how to get to the trail (that I ultimately decided against, but it was right next to the highway I took, so the directions were helpful anyhow). The driver of the bus I was on even offered me food! I was very grateful because I'd eaten almost nothing all day. She gave me a back of chips.
Shit, it's past midnight.
My arm hurts.
