X-ray CLEARthing
So, today was one of many UVA appointments regarding my stomach issues. I was not allowed to eat/drink anything after midnight and my exam/x-ray took THREE hours long!!
My X ray is called a Small bowel follow through. Basically the worse part of the tests is drinking down 3 cups of barium. YUUUUUCK! Those stuff sticks to your mouth and gives your horrible after tastes. I was glad to be able to rinse my mouth out, although what I really wanted to do was to drink a liter of water to get rid of that barium taste. Sure, it was "flavored" but still it was not the most pleasant thing to drink. The tech took pictures every 15 minutes to see how well the barium (contrast dye) moved throughout my stomach to the small intestine. After about 2-1/2 hrs of pictures, drinking barium, and shivering in that cold X ray room, the team of doctors/radiologist came in and used a special tool to poke around my abdomen area and took "close up" pictures of all part of my GI.
Well, the good news is that they didn't find anything. The main reason for this test was 1. it's a procedure usually done with people with have gastroperesis to see how the small and large intestine looks and well as 2. looking to see if any of my tumors (that I currently have, called neurofibroma) is growing in any parts of my GI tract or if there is an obstruction. So since it's clear (PRAISE GOD), they don't have a definitive answer as to why my gastroperesis is so bad. (like I said in a previous post, my stomach only empties 37% with in 2 hrs; normal is 100% in two hours). I still have days where it's good and days when I feel a lot of pain and sick to my stomach. It's beginning to be a daily thing that I have gotten used to and I am gaining more knowledge everyday just knowing what my body can or can't handle.
Again as I said previously, my next appointment regarding my GI has to deal with the possibility of minor form of vertigo (don't ask me how they relate this to my gastroperesis; I guess the docs are looking at every avenue to see if there are other causes to my nausea/vomiting). The ENT visit is in two weeks (going back to UVA!); next Wednesday I go back to UVA for my 8 week post op visit w/ my orthopedic. I wonder how many more times I will have to go to UVA this summer?????? Hmmm...........:)
Despite the fact that we aren't any closer to an explanation of my GI issues, I'm very thankful for a clear X ray report. As the doctors said, it might be just a bad case of gastroperesis that I have to deal with, hopefully with a new regime of medications.
My X ray is called a Small bowel follow through. Basically the worse part of the tests is drinking down 3 cups of barium. YUUUUUCK! Those stuff sticks to your mouth and gives your horrible after tastes. I was glad to be able to rinse my mouth out, although what I really wanted to do was to drink a liter of water to get rid of that barium taste. Sure, it was "flavored" but still it was not the most pleasant thing to drink. The tech took pictures every 15 minutes to see how well the barium (contrast dye) moved throughout my stomach to the small intestine. After about 2-1/2 hrs of pictures, drinking barium, and shivering in that cold X ray room, the team of doctors/radiologist came in and used a special tool to poke around my abdomen area and took "close up" pictures of all part of my GI.
Well, the good news is that they didn't find anything. The main reason for this test was 1. it's a procedure usually done with people with have gastroperesis to see how the small and large intestine looks and well as 2. looking to see if any of my tumors (that I currently have, called neurofibroma) is growing in any parts of my GI tract or if there is an obstruction. So since it's clear (PRAISE GOD), they don't have a definitive answer as to why my gastroperesis is so bad. (like I said in a previous post, my stomach only empties 37% with in 2 hrs; normal is 100% in two hours). I still have days where it's good and days when I feel a lot of pain and sick to my stomach. It's beginning to be a daily thing that I have gotten used to and I am gaining more knowledge everyday just knowing what my body can or can't handle.
Again as I said previously, my next appointment regarding my GI has to deal with the possibility of minor form of vertigo (don't ask me how they relate this to my gastroperesis; I guess the docs are looking at every avenue to see if there are other causes to my nausea/vomiting). The ENT visit is in two weeks (going back to UVA!); next Wednesday I go back to UVA for my 8 week post op visit w/ my orthopedic. I wonder how many more times I will have to go to UVA this summer?????? Hmmm...........:)
Despite the fact that we aren't any closer to an explanation of my GI issues, I'm very thankful for a clear X ray report. As the doctors said, it might be just a bad case of gastroperesis that I have to deal with, hopefully with a new regime of medications.
Comments