Testing

On September 28th I had some testing done.  I had a MUGA scan and got a 24 hour halter monitor.  Just routine testing that I made memorable.

A MUGA scan is performed by attaching a radioactive substance, Technetium 99, to red blood cells, then injecting the red blood cells into the patient’s bloodstream. The patient is then placed under a special camera (a gamma camera), which is able to detect the low-level radiation being given off by the Technetium-labelled red cells. Since the red blood cells (including those that are radio-labelled) fill the cardiac chambers, the image produced by the gamma camera is essentially an outline of those chambers. With some fancy computer manipulation, the the final product is a movie of the heart beating.  To insure that the red blood cells aren't damaged, they use a large bore needle.  Ouch!

The tech drew the blood and was securing the port to my arm for when they would be inserting my "labelled" blood back into my vein.  This was interrupted by me going vagal.  In regular terms, I passed out.  When I do something, I do it well.  A while later I awoke (partially) on the floor.  I don't remember how I got there since I was sitting in a chair with an arm restraint in front.  Oh well, I was laying there with one tech passing something below my nose and the other trying to take my blood pressure.  There was also a guy in the room.  As I came around more I learned that I had an ice pack under my neck, my feet where elevated on a chair, I was on my second smelling salt and they guy was a cardiologist.  After about 40 minutes, they allowed me to sit and drink some juice and eat some crackers.  About 20 minutes later they were ready to finish the testing.  I would like to apologize to everyone whose appointments ran late that day.  Some idiot was being a drama king and requiring too much attention.

I don't get my results until October 21st.  I hope they are good, but fear they won't be as I have been doing poorly this last month or so.