6 Month Follow Up CT Scan for Kidney Cancer
So here’s how the first post op CT Scan went; My appointment was at 4.30pm at Good Hope hospital, Sutton Coldfield. We arrived in plenty of time which was good as the barrier to the main car park wasn’t working and the queues were getting bigger. Some nifty driving by my daughter through the queuing cars and via hospital buildings and we managed to park in the old car park away from the main hospital. (When is that multi storey car park coming….?) A brisk walk from the car and then through both new and old parts of Good Hope brought us to the XRay Department where I checked in and was directed along another corridor to the CT Scan waiting room. There was no one there to check in with so we took seats with others waiting, some already in gowns and with jugs of water – the form sent with appointment details advised we are required to drink a litre of water beforehand. Another couple of people came after me, still no one at the desk and in the meantime there was a queue of emergency patients building up on stretchers and in wheelchairs. Eventually a nurse came to the waiting room and booked one of the later patients in – my cue to jump up also. When I explained I’d not checked in, he then explained, ‘that’s because I wasn’t here’. I always find stating the bleeding obvious amusing. At this point I was given a carrier bag and 2 hospital gowns, one to put on opening at the back with the top one opening at the front. I was allowed to keep bottom underwear and shoes on. (I had not taken up the option to bring my own dressing gown). If it wasn’t apparent already, there was an overflow of emergency cases coming in and a lack of nursing and support staff. This cannot be helped and no one, myself included was complaining. This flurry of activity broke the ice and the lady next to me (also amused by the mild sarcasm of the nurse) said she had been waiting over an hour. The lady in question was dressed in a lovely fluffy dressing gown with leopard print slippers and looked quite glamorous considering the venue. She went on to tell us that she was also a kidney cancer survivor and was here for her 3rd year check up post surgery. She went on to say that her husband had also had the condition and unfortunately died from kidney cancer and so she was herself very nervous. What an awful shame, what are the chances?! I found out that this lady had her surgery at Good Hope, an option I wasn’t given and would have preferred. She’d had open surgery though and now suffered from a large hernia which also needed surgery to repair. Listening to other people’s experiences of kidney cancer I feel fortunate that my own tumor was discovered and removed so swiftly. As often heard before, the lady I spoke to had visited her GP a few times about fatigue and blood in her wee but wasn’t diagnosed straight away. It was because of her husbands unfortunate and untimely death from kidney cancer that she pursued the doctors and was eventually refered to a specialist by which time she had a tumor the size of a tennis ball in her kidney. One by one we were taken to an adjoining room to be canulised and the queue started to move down as following this patients were called in to be scanned. I had asked in the meantime whether I should also be given a jug of water as the appointment forms had shown but the nurse said this wasn’t neccessary? In case you are not familiar with what a CT Scan is and why it’s performed there is an excellent explanation on patient.co.uk When I was called in to have my scan I asked if I could suck a cough lozenger as I have a really irritating cough and you just know that when you’re required not to, you always cough! This was allowed on the condition I made sure I didn’t choke… As it was my 3rd CT Scan I was aware of the procedure, holding breath then breathing, moving in and out of the donut and having the dye pumped through accompanied by the sensation that you’ve weed yourself, lovely. None of this bothered me as I’ve been there before. (That is in a CT Scan not weeing myself…) The only thing on my mind now are the results. I asked if I would be able to get my results from my GP as I still haven’t got an appointment date with my consultant. The radiologist checked on her computer and said this wouldn’t be possible as it was the consultant who had requested the scan so I will have to be a patient patient. So this is what they call watch and wait…
Comments