Get the Geiger Counter
Posted By Russ Emerson on August 1, 2007 at 9:31 am
Well I’m not uptight
Not unattracted
Turn me on tonight
‘Cause I’m radioactive (radioactive)
The lumbar puncture Monday went rather well. Though I was at the hospital for perhaps two hours, the procedure itself took only about ten minutes, and contrary to my expectations, wasn’t even a little bit uncomfortable, much less actually painful.
The point of the procedure, of course, was to introduce a radioactive isotope — Indium 111 — into my spinal fluid so that later scans can track the flow thereof. The first such scan, yesterday, was another ten-minute affair. I expect that the second, scheduled for noon today, will be no different.
I’ve no idea what the results might be. I just hope the doc can make sense of the scans and find out what it is he needs to know.
After the cisternogram scan at about noon, I have another completely different test procedure: the electromyogram, or nerve conduction test. Should be fun… depending on how you define “fun.”
When I was 10 or so, I had a Spinal Tap and a carotid (sp?) artery puncture at the same time. The dr. said that the vein pucture would feel like a mosquito bite – yeah right. That mosquito was really big, and I still have the puncture mark on my neck to prove it.
The tap was also a big pain. Be sure to not let your belt be too tight in this spot – mine hurt for quite some time.
Hope you do not need to go through it again . . .