Up and atom!!

I already explained Day 1 of this 3 day ‘scanathon’ in blog: http://wp.me/p4AplF-lY     Bit techy but added some humour to dilute some of that down. Just a quick post to elaborate on the remainder of the experience which was completed yesterday.

I’ve had this scan twice previously with the last one in the summer of 2011 and both were done in Bournemouth Hospital. Due to a merging of the Bournemouth and Poole Nuclear Medicine Departments, these are now done at Poole. Interesting journey from/to Ringwood especially in the rush hour!  Also, the hospital parking was challenging to say the least.  I covered a total of 120 miles (4 visits) plus £9 in parking fees.  However, it’s a small price to pay for the benefits received.

They gave me a card which I have to carry for 3 months.  It has a number of functions including acting as a ‘get out of jail free’ card should I set off the radiation alarms in airports etc.  Off to Tenerife in just over a week – that would not do at all!  I was also told on Day 1 to stay away from young children and pregnant women for 3 days.

Having chatted with the radiologists, I discovered this machine is not only newer technology than the one in Bournemouth but it also has more ‘bells and whistles’ ….. or as my late father used to say about any new technology “it takes corner kicks” – however, this was normally in reference to a TV or a washing machine 🙂  The cameras were bigger than I remember and instead of moving around the body in ‘polygon’ style stages, this one moves in a circular fashion. The cameras do come quite close to the body and I suspect claustrophobics might have an issue with this scan. However, it’s the lesser of two evils and eyes can always be shut! This machine not only takes corner kicks, but throw-ins too.  It has a built-in CT scanner and they whizzed me through this at the end of the day 2 gamma scan.  This provides them with the ability to overlay scans with maximum precision. In the old system, this would be done manually by comparing the pictures from two different machines.

This is without doubt the most boring scan in the world!  Each day is 1 hour plus and the patient has to keep still for maximum accuracy. They do a top to bottom full body as a reference picture (around 15 minutes) and then two circular scans as ordered by the Consultant (mine was the abdomen and the chest/neck).  These circular scans take 25 minutes each.  In 2011, I did suggest they install a flat screen TV with Sky Sports on the ceiling but this does not appear to have been taken up!  They do have a radio and CD player though and they even ask the patient which station or CD they would like to be listen to.  I was about to jokingly ask for The Sex Pistols CD ‘Never mind the Bollocks’ but decided against that just in case there was any medical confusion with the scan output 🙂

Ronny

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