This morning was the kidney CT. I've never had a CAT scan before so the lady was super sweet and explained in detail what I can expect as she was doing it. For the benefit of anyone else who's never had one, here was my experience.
1. Get a voicemail from Intermountain registration yesterday asking to call them back. Call back and give them every piece of contact info they can think to ask for. Get asked for insurance. Tell the guy, no you don't need it, I'm donating a kidney. Listen to the guy say, well they're going to ask you for it again tomorrow. Roll eyes.
2. Go into Intermountain radiology. Type my name in the computer & scan my express pass. (This supposedly makes the process faster. I've yet to figure out how.) Get a little buzzer guy and go sit down. Buzzer goes off so go over to the desk. Give them all of the exact same info you did on the phone, except not asked for insurance. Thank heavens. That would have been annoying.
3. Sit in another waiting room. (I'm making the waiting part sound worse than it was. My appointment was early enough that the waits weren't too long. When I left, though, both waiting rooms were packed!)
4. Called back and given scrub bottoms and a gown that are somewhere around the size XXXXL. Apparently the circus tent company was the lowest bidder for those puppies. Take off the majority of my clothing and put it in a little locker. Then sit in another waiting room...feeling naked....because the clothes are so big they don't even touch my skin. Envision trying to make adult scrubs fit a 4 year old and you've pretty much got the right proportions.
5. Called back to the CAT scan machine. Cute Patsy (the tech) gave me a heated blanket before I could even tell her I was cold. She rocked. Then I laid down on the bed of the machine while she put an IV in my arm. That was the best IV experience I think I've ever had (out of my whole 2 IV experiences). It hurt less than getting my blood drawn has. Again, she rocked. She put a little saline through which made my mouth and nose taste like snot. She said it would taste salty but it reminded me more of mucous. lol Then I put my arms above my head while they took some pictures without contrast. Next she pumped through the contrast and told me it would feel really warm and that I would feel like I was peeing, but to worry because I'm not. I'm so glad she warned me about that because it felt exactly like that. Soooo bizarre. And then my whole body was feeling flushed and hot. I got dizzy and almost felt like I would black out, but of course I didn't. I could mainly feel the heat in my hands (pretty much on the palm below my fingers) and in my feet. It was the oddest sensation. Then they took a bunch more pictures. By taking pictures, I mean I went multiple times through the Stargate. The giant ring has something inside that starts spinning uber fast and I half expected my feet to feel the sands of another planet.
After that it was all over and back to life. I have to drink extra water to flush out the dye, though. She made a comment that made me wonder. My wondering led to marveling at modern medicine. I have the results already people. She said they'd have them to the doctor by Friday but that I could see them any time. That reminded me you can see results online. I looked it up thinking for sure nothing would be there yet. Not so! For your viewing pleasure, here are my results. I'd like to point out how entertained I am by the fact that they noted my scoliosis. How nice would it have been to get this done earlier in the year before I paid for an xray to find out?
Dictated By CONNER, KAREN E.
Status Final
Location Intermountain Medical Center
Date 09/22/2010
CT angiogram of the abdomen, without and with IV contrast
Date: 9/22/2010
Comparison: No comparison
History: Pre Renal transplant donor. Evaluate kidneys. Patient
is a 27-year-old female.
Procedure: Noncontrast helical scanning was performed through the
kidneys. Following uneventful administration of 100 mL Isovue-370
intravenous contrast, helical scanning was performed through the
abdomen during arterial phase of enhancement with thin
reconstruction through the aorta and renal arteries. Following
this, repeat helical scanning was performed through the abdomen
during portal venous phase. Delayed images are obtained through
the kidneys. Image postprocessing was utilized to create sagittal
and coronal MIPs of the aorta and renal arteries. Additional
volume rendered images were created of the abdominal aorta, renal
arteries, and kidneys.
Findings:
Noncontrast: There is rotatory levoscoliosis of the
thoracolumbar spine. No significant degenerative changes seen. No
calcifications are seen within either kidney. The kidneys
demonstrate normal cortical and medullary density. No
hydronephrosis is seen. Lung bases demonstrate asymmetry of the
thoracic cavity secondary to the scoliosis but no other
significant abnormality.
Contrast-enhanced: Arterial phase imaging demonstrates a single
bilateral renal artery. There is no renal artery stenosis or
significant narrowing. Venous phase imaging demonstrates a normal
left renal vein.The kidneys enhance a normally. Delayed images demonstrate normal
and symmetric excretion of contrast. Visualized proximal ureters
are unremarkable.
The liver, spleen, pancreas, gallbladder, and adrenal glands are
unremarkable. Visualized loops of bowel are within normal limits.
An appendix is partially visualized anterior to the right psoas
muscle. No lymphadenopathy is seen. Other vascular structures are
unremarkable. There is standard hepatic arterial branching
anatomy. Two small splenules are incidentally noted inferior to
the splenic tip. No free fluid is seen. Osseous structures are
otherwise unremarkable.
Impression:
1. Normal appearing bilateral kidneys with a single renal artery
to each kidney identified.
2. Rotatory levoscoliosis to the thoracic spine but otherwise
unremarkable CT of the abdomen.
What's a splenule you might ask? I asked that myself! So I looked it up:
Accessory spleens, also known as splenules, are congenital foci of splenic tissue that are anatomically distinct from the spleen. Embryologically, they represent failure of fusion of the splenic anlage, located in the dorsal mesogastrium, during the fifth week of fetal life. Splenules are not uncommon, 10-30% of autopsies, but are typically asymptomatic.
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