More Tests

After this morning's blog, off I went for the Ultrasound and the Barium swallow... I didn’t think it would take that long to get to Castle Hill as I was going cross country, but it took the best part of 3/4 of an hour to get there... And because I was the first appointment (because of the fasting) I just made it...

First of all was the ultrasound... I've never had one of these before, it was really interesting lying there and seeing representations of your inside while being poked and prodded... That all went well and only took 15 minutes, so then I had to wait for the Barium swallow...

The radiologist that greeted me was really chirpy and said "Mr Pickersgill... Are you ready for your cappuccino?” Yes I’m ready for one, but not one with an Iron base… Once I got onto the machine, they gave me a cup with the Barium meal in it… It looks like that chalky shit your mum used to give you when you were a kid had the runs… Well it wasn’t quite that… It was bloody heavy to start with and I almost dropped it… you needed 2 hands to hold the plastic cup to start so it didn’t collapse in your hands…

“Take a mouthful and hold it in until I tell you to swallow” the doctor said… Well I took a mouthful (a little too much), and swallowed when he told me… “Really good but don’t take as much next time…” It tasted disgusting.

This continued about 10 times, in every which way (standing up lying down, on my side and on my stomach), while the doctor took images of my oesophagus and my stomach with this crap rolling around in it… I could see the screen and see it moving about… it was fascinating… The last test was a gas test, where you take one liquid and swallow and then another which then causes a gas to form in your stomach for contrast… This wasn’t much better and gave you the feeling of a really bad gassy soft drink… Once they checked the films (I was keeping Kodak going today with the amount of images they took) I was free to go… I couldn’t drink enough water to get the bad taste out of my mouth…

Then off to work… another day, another 53 cents… Chatting with my boss who has also had a Barium swallow he said if you thought today was bad, tomorrow’s worse when it comes out… No 2’s are bad enough at the moment while I’m only eating greens without this…

Tomorrow morning I pick up the test results, which I gather were all fine as there were no shocked faces or long silences from the Doctor or radiologists; then it off back to Baulkham Hills for my pre-op consultation…

More tomorrow after I see the Doc…