CT Scan

CT scan is just now over. It was a horrible experience.

They give you 36 ounces of nasty tasting stuff to drink. Which for an average healthy person is not good but they are able to manage to drink it for the test. Well, now try giving that to a very sick person who vomits when she has been NPO (nothing by mouth) for 5 days. So I try and start drinking this contrast. I'm not a very big drinker to begin with so seeing a big bottle of contrast to drink is not appealing. I am nauseous before I ever start drinking and so I try and start sipping. They want you to drink 12 ounces over an hour. May not seem like a lot to an average person, but to a sick person it is A LOT. The nurses and I from the beginning figured I would just do the best I can to get as much down and not push it. We figure that keeping some down is better than trying to drink it all and vomiting it all back up. So I start drinking and by the time for the scan I only have a little over a cup down. I can't handle anymore due to the pain and the nausea. Well the doctors decide that I have to have all of it for the test. They wanted the nurse to put an NG tube down so they can give me the rest of the contrast. Well, that's stupid because I have a G-tube. So they order some morphine to try and control the pain even though they knew it would still be painful and uncomfortable and after the morphine is in they want me to put the rest of the contrast through the tube. So that is what we do. I'm so nauseous and uncomfortable it's ridiculous. I can't hardly talk because if I do I'm going to end up vomiting. I have a nursing student with me today, which I don't mind because I was in their shoes before. But, when you really don't feel good and then they start messing around and doing things that don't necessarily need done it gets annoying. So I manage to make it to the scan and get that done. Get back to the room and am then able to drain the contrast via the G-tube which was it's original purpose (to drain the stomach when nauseous).

So glad that is over with. I hope they may get some answers from it and that it wasn't all for nothing.