It was time for my routine check to see if my Crohn’s disease is still in remission. Taking care of this has been a real roller coaster, but after starting a new treatment and overcoming the first side effects, I’m feeling a lot better. But of course, we need to prove it with some regular checks. Which ones, you ask? So, let's talk about some fancy scans!
So, MRI. Picture a giant magnet and some radio waves teaming up to create super detailed images of your organs and tissues. MRIs are like secret agents for spotting fistulas around the anal area (thanks, pelvic MRI) or the small intestine (shout out to MR enterography).
First day, I had the MR scan. I'm not sure why I can't do this at the same time as the CT, but hey, who am I to question their rules?
Let me tell you how this works. When you get there, you need to take off your clothes and remove all your metal stuff. I’ve lost so many piercings due to this, I just don't put them back anymore. I have these exams twice a year, and I’m pretty clumsy with losing my stuff.
Because it’s a stomach scan, I couldn’t eat for 6 hours beforehand. A contrast medium is injected into your vein so that everything can be seen even more clearly. Not a problem for me. Then you lie down on a movable table that leads you into the round opening of the device. You must lie still and breathe evenly. You also get headphones because the device is very loud, and since the exam lasts more than half an hour, believe me, the noise can get on your nerves. Someone told me they play music through the headphones, but I haven’t had that luxury yet. Not sure why. Anyway, I don’t mind too much. I’m not claustrophobic, so I can lie there in peace. Sometimes, I even doze off, and when the table starts to move because the exam is over, I’m completely lost. That's it. Some patients need to wait half an hour to go home in case the contrast has side effects, but I’ve had so many that they send me home right away. No side effects so far. Woohoo!
Now, onto the, the CT scan. Imagine an X-ray on steroids. This bad boy gives way more detail than your standard X-ray, checking out your whole bowel and even the stuff outside it. It's like the Sherlock Holmes or Hercule Poirot ( Poirot for me:) of the medical world, leaving no stone unturned.
Then there's CT enterography. This is like a CT scan that’s had a Red Bull. You drink this special contrast material and get an IV contrast, giving us a VIP tour of your intestines. It’s cool to see inside me, but oh my, this liquid tastes awful. But, what can you do? Drink it and shut up, that’s my motivational speech when I see them bring the liquid.
So, yesterday, it was CT scan time. First, no eating again for 6 hours before the exam. For imaging the abdominal organs, I have to consume the contrast liquid. So, you have one hour to drink a liter of this disgusting liquid.
The preparations are the same. They send you to the dressing room, you remove part of your clothes and all metal and magnetic things, and wait to be called. They also inject contrast into your vein. The X-ray tube is supposed to rotate around you, but thankfully, you don't notice it in the tube. You have to lie still and get headphones again. This time, you have to listen to the doctor's instructions: inhale, hold your breath, and exhale. If you follow the instructions, the exam takes about 15 minutes, but if you mess up your breathing, it takes longer. So now, whenever someone tells me to breathe in and out, I’m like, “Dude, don’t do that, I feel like I’m in a big tube, and it only makes things worse.”
So, there you have it, our high-tech peek inside your body, with all the bells and whistles!
Last stop of the day, finally my morning coffee ;)
Now I'm waiting for the results to see if the situation has improved. Next week, I have a colonoscopy and a gastroscopy. Believe me, I’ll share my experiences with you. These are two tests I hate with all my heart, but unfortunately, I can’t avoid them. I have to do all these tests every year. It's painful, but if I want to know what’s going on in my intestines, I have no other option...
“A healthy outside starts from the inside.” – Robert Urich
