Fun with cat scans

[richlevy]

I woke up Monday morning in a lot of pain. The doctors opinion was that going by a specimin and the location of the pain it was possibly a kidney stone, similar to what I had about ten years ago.

Today I went in for the CT scan, which only took about 5 minutes. However, the doctor ordered a second scan which required the drinking of two Barium 'smoothies' (berry flavored) over the next two hours and a return appointment for an iodine IV drip and a second scan.

I went home, drank the two 1/2 liter 'smoothies', and discovered the interesting side effect of all of that stuff hitting my digestive system.

When I showed up for my second appointment, I was told that after discussing it with the doctor, the second procedure was really not necessary for checking for kidney stones and was canceled.

On the bright side, the pain has lessened and I may not need to take the Endocet she prescribed to get to sleep like I did last night. If I don't take the Endocet, I can go back to work tomorrow. I don't exactly handle heavy machinery, but programming is not something I like to do while impaired. It might be useful for meetings, though.

I paid $10 for a CD with reading software and a copy of my CT scan. Unfortunely, not being a radiologist, I can barely recognize my spine and one other essential piece of my anatomy, much less see any stones.