Live your love, Love your life

I had no idea what is the "prep" for the CT (Computed Tomography) scan. Stupid me I did not ask, I guess because I was too shock to learn that the cyst is still growing. Once again, thanks to internet, I searched online what to expect on CT scan so I can get myself ready.
Wednesday, December 10th, I had my breakfast early. When the clock hit 10am, I stop eating anything, only drank water. 11.30am I drove to Austin Regional Clinic at Quarry Lake which is near Costco, where I work. I gave the test form to the nurse in the front desk and sat in the waiting room. 10 minutes later, the other nurse called my name and she asked if I fast today. Then she lead me to another sitting room inside and gave me about 24oz of barium to drink. Barium is a chemical salt that works as a dye in our body so that the scanner could give a good impression of the targeted organ. Nurse told me to drink it up and she said there's gonna be another 12oz to drink just before the procedure. I asked whether it will make me urinate later on, she said no, because barium will go to my digestive system not to my bladder. Hm, interesting! So, I drank it up, it's banana flavor...yuck... I should've asked if they have strawberry flavor. I gave the empty cup back to the nurse which surprised her of how fast I drank. She then told me to wait for 2 hours to give barium enough time to fill up my abdomen cavity.
So, I spent my time working on my laptop. I had a calendar project with Photoshop to finish. I was thinking to chat with Loel but, to my surprise, there is no internet connection detected. Weird! Oh well, at least I have something to work to kill the time.
Two hours later, another nurse called my name and asked me to undress and wear the hospital gown, I have to remove all jewelry and other metal stuff that might intefere with the scanner. Then she lead me to the CT scan room. I sat there and she gave me another cup of barium to drink. Then she asked me to lay down. She put a pillow under my legs, spreaded blanket on me, and said that she's gonna give me some IVs for a contrast scanning. She inserted the needle in my right arm as the IV (intravenous) line and put my arms above my head. She said the whole process would take about 15 minutes.
Then there I went under the scanner. The machine told me to hold breath and to breath in. After series of scans, about 7 minutes later, the nurse came in and told me that she'd gonna give me the contrast injection (it's an iodine based solution). A bottle of saline solution and a bottle of contrast run through a tubing into a power-assisted injector then into the IV line that was placed in my arm. She explained that this contrast will give me funny feeling like flushing sensation, a salty or metallic taste in the mouth, urinating like feeling, and a brief headache, or nausea and/or vomiting. "If you have difficulties of breathing, numbness, sweatness, or heart palpitation, let us know. OK? That means you are allergic to this contrast." And just when the contrast entered my blood vessel, I felt all those sensations.
About 5 minutes later, the nurse came back in. "OK. You are done, sweety." She removed my IV and asked if I feel alright. I was a bit dizzy, other than that I was fine. I went out, change to my dress, and put all my project into my bag. Nurse gave me a piece of paper to give to the check out desk staff outside. I checked my cell there was 2 misscalls from Loel. I called him back told him that everything was fine and that I was ready to drive back home.
An hour later, I started to have gurgling in my stomach and a bit dizziness. I got diarrhea until the next day, which was expected as an after-effect of barium. Later that day, a nurse from Dr. Kavoussi office called me. She said doctor wanted to discuss with me about the CT result. I said I cannot do it tomorrow nor Friday. So I decided to go on Monday, December 15th.