Take One! My picture as an electronic image

My first ever scan! What to expect? Well, I was quite happy in thinking that this would be a simple procedure for me. I would just lie down and look handsome; after all it was a filming session. However, for the medical staff it would be a highly skilled job to interpret the results.

I undressed then, as on my previous visit to the hospital, enjoyed the same entertainment whilst changing into the gown, I beat my own personal best time on this occasion. I was shown into a large room, which contained the “cat san.” It looked just like the pictures I had seen, a big metal doughnut. There were a number of staff helping set up for the procedure and I was invited to lie on the couch. One of the staff explained that the procedure would take about twenty minutes and during that time I was to lie as still as I could.

There would be nobody in the room with me during the scan but the staff would observe through a window and communicate through a set of headphones. Whilst the machine would be operating music of my choice would be played, and there would be interruptions from time to time with updates on the progress. “What would I like in the way of music? I was asked. How nice! I thought it was like being on Desert Island Discs. I wish I had known, as I would have prepared a play list. Thinking quickly I said I would like the Four Seasons by Vivaldi. “Sorry,” they said, “you only have a choice of classical, heavy metal or pop music.” Fearing that the heavy metal or pop music may contain such titles as “Stairway to Heaven”, “The Road to Hell’ or “Knock, Knock, Knocking on Heaven’s Door!”  I opted for classical.

I was given a small injection in my hand and told that it may give me the feeling of a warm glow and the sensation that I may have “wet” myself. I was so pleased to have had the warning, as that is precisely the effect I felt!

As it was the lower part of my body that was to be scanned I felt very comfortable with my hands folded across my chest. One of the nurses placed a simple button device in my hand saying “ If you need us for any reason just press the button.”  “What sort of situation would I need to press the button?” I asked, “There is none really but its there just in case.” As she left the room I thought “in case of what? Would I be the first ever to need to press the button?” She had such a pleasant smile and such a confident manner that I thought it amusing rather than worrying.

A voice came through the headphones to say that they were about to start the scan. The machine started to make a sound like a washing machine on a slow spin but caused me no concern. Then the classical music started….A choral piece… a choir of young women whose voices sounded like a choir of angels..! The couch moved very slowly towards the big circular metal doughnut. I knew that should there be a very bright white light on the other side I would be pressing the button in my hand and preparing to make my way in the opposite direction at great speed!

The scan did not seem to take twenty minutes, it felt more like five or ten minutes, and then it was finished. Whilst changing I thought that the staff carry out this procedure many times during a day and see many people in a week. It was a Saturday morning, not a great day to be working, yet for all that I felt as if I was special and they had looked after me as an individual. I left thinking that whatever they should discover I would know the results in a short time.

Tractor Man

GBNHS