CT Scan

June 27, 2006. It poured that day. Actually, the entire week was one of the wettest in recent memory. I think we got close to 10 inches of rain when all was said and done. I started the day with a customer meeting which helped take my mind off of things since this is a customer I've been chasing for quite some time. Fortunately, the meeting was very close to Reston Hospital where the CT scan was to take place so I easily made it in time for my noon appointment.

I had been to this radiology department before. Last year, my son had a CT scan of his sinuses as part of some tests he went through with his allergest. I remember having to wait at least an hour on that visit which is not exactly easy to do with a 3 year old. I anticipated another long wait given the number of people ahead of me.

The visit did not start off well since the woman checking me in could not find me in the computer. I thought, "please don't tell me I'm going to have to come back." Thankfully, she was able to straighten everything out after a couple of calls. Since I was a late addition, I wasn't on her schedule. This discussion was followed by another snafu with another employee who was going over all of my contact and insurance information. I really don't remember exactly what it was he was saying but the gist of it was that he thought I needed to go to some other department entirely. He must have been new because he was relatively young and a supervisor type was hawking over him the whole time. This woman was born to be an administrator. She was impeccibly dressed with perfectly coiffed hair and an air of polite condescension that made me glad she wasn't my boss. But, she set this poor young man straight and saved me a needless detour so I have to thank her for that.

The daily Washington Post crossword seemed unusually easy as I waited. I had quickly gotten through half of it when a kind looking gentleman in his mid 40's came to collect me. I later found out that Robert, as he introduced himself, was actually the director of the radiology department. The first stop was a comfortable locker room where I was instructed to hang up my shirt and store my watch, PDA, etc.... Robert then led me down the short hallway to the CT machine. As we walked, he asked me what I was having done and I explained the lump in my neck and that it was most likely some form of lymphoma. I asked him if he had seen many of these and he replied in a very good spirited manner, "too many to count." It turns out that Robert is a radiology lifer having started there and a tech. assistant at the age of 19. Then he told me that if it was lymphoma, the bad news is it's cancer but the good news is that there are a whole lot of things that are worse. He had a knack for putting me at ease with his down-home, almost country appeal.

For anyone who is not familiar with it, a CT scan (computed tomography) is a computerized x-ray. I was instructed to lay on a platform-like table while Robert injected me with a contrast solution. Apparently, I have very good veins which, according to Robert, are a valuable commodity for cancer patients. The contrast solution washes through me with a warm flush. I liken it to the feeling of peeing in your pants.

Once injected, I was told to lay very, very still once the scan begins. It's a quick process so the laying still isn't a problem. The problem is that you're not allowed to swallow either. If you've never been instructed to not swallow, trust me when I tell you that your immediate reaction to this command is an overwhelming urge to swallow. It certainly didn't help when Robert quickly said, "by the way, drink this" just before the test started and gave me a shot glass full of a gelatinous, yogurty-type substance. At this point, the platofrm begins to move into a long tube-like structure like a giant tongue slowly retracting into a hungry mouth.

The CT scan is done in a matter of minutes and Robert escorts me back to the locker room. As we're walking, he tells me a story of a woman he went to high school with who was diagnosed with lymphoma but went on to beat it and now has a happy, healthy family. I told him that he is an excellent care-giver and that I appreciated his words more than he could imagine.

Humanity is an amazing thing. The good in people is becoming more and more apparent to me.