My first test was a CT scan February 17, 2015. No food or water after midnight. It made me very sick having to drink two bottles of nasty 'fruit flavored' liquid that would help them see my insides better. I was about done with my second bottle when a nurse came out with two new bottles for me... I quickly explained that I was almost done. I was NOT putting myself through that again. She disappeared and returned to give them to the gentleman next to me.
The nurse took me back to change. The hospital pants were huge! A baby elephant could have fit. The strings were hanging down around my knees after I'd tied them in a bow... I got my first IV, the tube was thick and it hurt. They shot iodine into me after some pictures. It made me really hot and I felt awful. A side effect of it, they explained beforehand was that it would feel like I'd peed my pants even though I hadn't. That was a lovely sensation. I was very sick for the rest of the day.
Results: Other than a small rupture they found which should go away on its own, nothing was found.
March 5-6, 2015
Today I got an ultrasound and they took bloods. The ultrasound kind of hurt as she was trying to get the pictures she needed and would jam the tool under my ribs or deep into my side. They took so much blood is was as if I had donated.
The HIDA scan followed the next day. No food or water after midnight again. That's hard as my stomach gets sharp pains when I'm hungry and my appointment wasn't until 11:00am. I didn't have to drink anything or change my clothes though. I got to keep my phone and had been encouraged to bring an ipod or some form of entertainment. My dad even came back with me. Another IV... they poked a vein on the side of my arm instead of the center. That hurt... The first hour was fine. I just had to lie still. The doctor had even gotten me a blanket. The second part I got really sick. He injected what would be the equivalent of a three course meal to see how my gallbladder reacted. So that was done in three parts and each time I felt so violently ill. My dad is amazing. He put his hand on my head for comfort.Results: Everything is normal
March 16, 2015
Colonoscopy and Endoscopy. No solid food after midnight... ok, I slept until 2:00pm trying to ignore the hunger. I made some broth for dinner. I felt dizzy and lightheaded but that seemed to help a bit. It's just that drinking liquids on an empty stomach has always made me feel sick, my whole life... Then I had to drink the prep stuff. I tried just chugging it but it was so horrible I only got a third down. I was so sick and so hungry and I just started crying because I couldn't do it and it was so frustrating. My appointment wouldn't be until 11:00am tomorrow and I just couldn't make it that long. I'd have to wake up at 6:00am to drink the second part and two bottles of water on top of that. Dad called to cancel it and made me some macaroni and cheese. I finally started feeling better apart from a headache. However if I'd tried to continue, I might have ended up in the hospital that night.
March 23-24, 2015
Instead of the prep stuff, my doctor had me OD on laxative pills to clean out my system. 10 Dulcolax gel capsules twice. I was throwing up all day. The only plus to that was that I wasn't really hungry. To finish it I drank some Magnesium Citrate which I mixed with lemonade. I drank so much that I felt very bloated after. I couldn't really sleep that night.
The nurses had fun with the IV drip. The tube wouldn't go all the way in my hand. They kept trying to jam it in. Talk about painful... They finally gave up on the hand and tried again a little further up the arm. I was sort of crying by then... However before they could do the scopes they had to have a urine sample to make sure I wasn't pregnant.. Since I'd been throwing up all day yesterday I was kind of empty so I had to wait for the fluids to start kicking in. I'd started feeling lightheaded and hot so I closed my eyes for a minute and kind of passed out. When I woke up I thought it was all a dream for a second until I looked down and saw my IV. I almost started panicking.I was taped up with heart monitors and they gave me oxygen after they wheeled my bed into surgery. They attached the anesthesia into the IV and had me roll over on my side before I was out.
Next thing I knew I was being helped back into my clothes and walked out to the car. A nurse had to help me walk and dad helped me inside. I asked for a muffin because I was hungry, but was still kind of out of it so I didn't notice the paper cup until I bit down on it..
Dad also told me that I'd given him a full report of all they did to me and how I had to take my IV to the bathroom. All that good stuff. Well now I know how my body would probably react to an overdose and perhaps what I would be like if I were intoxicated.
Results: The biopsies all came back clear. Other than a bit of inflammation in the lining of my stomach, all is normal.
I was referred to Primary Children's as I was still 18, yet they said they could only see me once since my birthday was coming up. So we were sent to the University of Utah.
June 16, 2015
Gastric emptying study. I had to eat two slices of toast and a cup of disgusting egg whites. They said if I didn't eat it all they couldn't do the test. There were small amounts of radioactive chemicals in the food that they then watched over the course of the next four hours with an x-ray.
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