Yesterday (8 December) i went in to have my head examined.
I have enlarged parotid (salivary) glands - not so much (or as painful to the touch) as they were a few weeks ago, when the condition first brought itself to my attention, but still enlarged and tender to the touch.
Dr Fogarty prescribed a course of steroids, and antibiotics, to cover possible infection and such, but it didn't help.
After a few fumbles on the doctor's office's part in getting me a referral, i finally was able to get in, yesterday, for a CT scan.
One of the delays was that the doc ordered a lab test to make sure that my kidneys could handle the iodine dye they were gonna shoot me up with for contrast. I got the lab work done at the county government's employee health services clinic - no charge for Hall County Employees or their dependents - and somehow the results did not get to the imaging center. They called Fogarty's office, and all THEY had from the lab was "Yep, we tested him all right" with no indication of the result. SO the tech had to draw blood for a lab test there, which added half an hour or more to the time i was there.
Results came back "GO", so ...
First scan, no dye.
Lie down, cot i'm lying on slides into the maw of the CT scanner, "Do Not Look Into Laser With Remaining Eyeball" (apparently it uses a laser to scan surface contours or something). In a clear window running all the way around the wall of the tunnel i'm in, THINGS start spinning around like something out of a cheap SF movie and then we're done and i slide back out.
I had a problem.
I had not eaten in like fifteen hours or so, so i was getting low sugar, and there was no support for my left arm. (My right arm was supported, because that was where the IV for the dye to be injected was.) The combination of low sugar and having to hold my arm in the air unsupported for five or more minutes had it shaking badly enough that my whole body was shaking to some extent.
Solution to that was to use what i suspect is used for patients who are unconscious or otherwise not able to hold their arms in place - a lightweight, velcro-closure sort of vest that wraps around the arms and chest loosely but securely.
Then it was time to pump me full of iodine, wait a while, and it was "Chocks Away" and i slid in again.
I waited a while before the reactionless-drive components began spinning - and just as it began he said "Hold your breath"
I happened to be exhaling.
After approximately two eternities while i contemplated the joys of hypoxia (or would it be anoxia?) i began sliding out and he said "Oh - you can breathe now."
I not being in any way Houdini-like, he unstrapped my arms, helped me to sit up and told me to be sure to stay well-hydrated the rest of the day, as my kidneys were going to be getting rid of the dye and i didn't need to make them any madder at me than they were gonna be anyway.
He gave me various paperwork, including a form telling me where i could request a CD with the scan result on it (you may see some of that here), and said they'd get the results to Fogarty's office as quickly as may be.
I have an appointment next Thursday (15 December) to go consult with the doc about what we found.
While i am not really worrying about it, it occasionally occurs tome that it was cancer of the salivary glands that took Roger Ebert from us...
[hr]
A neat bit about the whole thing is that obviously they are aware that - if what they're scanning for is anywhere much below your chin - as when they scanned me for my appendicitis diagnosis a couple years back - you're gonna be spending quite a bit of time lying on your back with your head outside the tunnel, staring at the ceiling, which is boring.
And, since, needing a good source of light in the room, preferably glare-free, there is a Very Large fluorescent-light fixture built into the ceiling in the middle, directly over the CT scanner. But even if it is essentially glare-free. lying there staring up into it could be ... less than optimal.
So, it's designed to have the opposite effect from lying-there-not-moving-for-five-or-ten-minutes-staring-up-into-a-bright-white-light:
![Image](http://electronictiger.net/ceiling.jpg)
{This is the end they stuff you into head-first. The other side has an opening two or three times as big.}