...of, Scanning & more scanning

I hope y’all enjoyed the slight break on yesterday from all the medical stuff. It seemed to serve as a great pause to shed some happy thoughts around here, however, I do realize that the lodging episode does play a role in the development of my maturation process, but it needed a page of it’s own!

Y’all last heard about the upcoming WBS on Monday. That proved to be another experience that I care not to participate in again, but that’s not an option. Just before the scan, a Nuclear Technician injected a very small amount of radiation into my arm and directed me to sit still for five minutes. Then he lead me to the scanning room where another man offered his hand of welcome and introduced himself. He explained to the process to me, pushing the fact that I had to remain completely still. All jewelry had to be removed as well as my glasses. The “Scan Man” helped me climb onto the table and lie down.

The scan terrified me! I’m slightly self-diagnosed claustrophobic! The roof of that machine came all the way down to the tip of my nose and the sides closed in I began praying as my breathing increased so that I would not freak out. After praying I sang Hymns to calm my nerves. The tech heard my small whimpers so he came to check on me and asked what was wrong. I told him that everything was closing in on me and I started to itch. Trying to calm me down, he stated that my entire body had not been enclosed and that he could scratch my itch. He asked where it was and I told him that my whole face itched so he rubbed my face with a paper towel, (THE BROWN ROUGH KIND!) and told me that there were only a few more minutes to go before the second scan.

THE SECOND SCAN? OH COME ON!!!

In between the scans I went to the restroom where I contemplated running away, but my bags were in the scanning room. After completing the second scan, I reported to the Endocrinologist’s office for, what I thought the report on the scans but, he met with me to tell me that the results would be ready tomorrow! Couldn’t they have told me that while I was over there so that I would not have had to taste the blood that filled my mouth from the gash in my tongue as a result of my biting it because of Dr. “Endo’s” not-funny-at-all-joke: looking at my bags he says, “My, I guess we can call you the bag lady today!” I could have yelled at him about my moving episodes and that “today” I had to check out before coming to the hospital because of the timing therefore, that is why I have my bags with me. Instead, I bit my tongue and showed no physical reaction to his comment!

Tuesday, Dr. “Endo” had a meeting that he’d forgotten about during the same time that my appointment with him had been scheduled. So his nurse had me wait. At the 1-½ mark, I spoke up. I had to. The Aerovac office would only be open 30 more minutes and I had to go to them before they closed so that I could have my orders signed off since I was booked on the next day’s flight out of there and without there “okay” I would not be allowed to do so. The nurse paged him with this information and relayed to me that the scan was awesome, to which I interrupted her by asking, “What exactly does awesome mean?” No, I was not being doubtful, but after all I’d experienced with the military medical services up until that point, I demanded no ambiguity! Shocked, she replied that the scan had been “all good,” it was clear, no traces of residual thyroid tissue or Cancer and to report back in 6 months for second set of scans. She initialed the papers that needed to accompany me to the Aerovac office.

When I arrived there, a man commented that I’d just made it on time and hopefully he could get everything done. I just looked at him with a wrinkled forehead that ornamented my cocked-to-the-left head with attitude-lips and thought, “Really? All you gotta do is make sure all the boxes are initialed on this paper and then add yours with a stamp!” This process only took him, literally, a few seconds!

“Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings. And the God of all grace, Who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will Himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast. To Him be the power forever and ever. Amen.” 1 Peter 5:8-11 NIV

Tomorrow’s post will end this segment of “When a Girl Prays for Patience.” In Friday’s post you will get to read about an awesome book that I recently read by author, LaVender Shedrick-Williams. She’s a bloggy-buddy of mine and we have communicated with one another “behind the scenes” as well. Then, for the next week I’ll be on “vacation” while I complete another book for review, which is also authored by a bloggy-buddy of mine, Warren Baldwin. Finally, I’ll begin the next installment of “When a Girl Prays for Patience: An Epoch of Depression.”