Hello dear friends!
Thank you for all your support and encouragement and congrats!
Today I feel Mahvelous, as Billy Crystal would say. I am a little dizzy, but I was dizzy before CK. I have no headache or any other symptom I didn't have before the CK. I slept like a rock last night.I am hoping I am inserting a photo here. If there is gibberish, I goofed and will need help from someone to tell me how to do it. If it worked, YEA!
So I woke up EARLY yesterday, like Santa was coming or something. I wanted to get it over and I was ready and felt very comfortable with my decision. My sweet husband, Weldon, and I left very EARLY because the Hospital is 25-35 miles away into the downtown area of Phoenix. We got there EARLY. Yep, gotta EARLY theme goin' on here. Than we had to wait needless to say. They weren't as excited about this event, like I was.
When Amanda called me back, we went straight to the CK room, going through the control center for the CK. That was interesting with all the monitors and equipment. One of my doctors was already there. So Weldon took a picture of the 2 of us. Amanda explained what was going to happen with whurs clicks and chunk sounds that "Cybie" would make while zapping my AN, "Goldie". She showed me how the mask is connected to the table. It is not screwed on like I imagined it has clips that twirl into place (like the back of a photograph) and voila - it is attached. We took p[ictures as I was attached, unfortunately they turned out fuzzy. I will post a couple of the better of them.
I asked how I can get released if I needed it after we started. She said she had a monitor just for her, where she will be attending to my needs. As you might remember, I am claustrophobic and this mask intimidated me. I did take happy pills, although I did notice just a small difference and no such "happy".
I wore my pirate socks! I am a loyal wench! (For those of your reading this saying, huh??? Go to the "Good Morning" thread under AN Community and read first 10 -pages or so of that thread.) I had made my own eclectic CD with sentimental music, classics, calming music of different styles, and some upbeat fun music. Amanda had some trouble with her CD player, but she didn't give up. She found a boom box and put my CD in there. Talk about customer service! It was great to hear that special music.
So after the explanations, questions, etc. I was TIGHTLY affixed to the table. TIGHTLY! This was the part I had dreaded, but I soon adjusted to it, staying as still as possible, it became less and less of an issue. I opened my eyes a couple of times to see my new friend diligently doing his job, somehow that was calming to me. My job was to stay still, his was to zap "Goldie". If I started feeling panicky I would think about how good I feel about my decision, how good it will be to be a toastie, where we will go to lunch, ANYTHING that kept my mind busy. For those of you that are claustrophobic, If I got through it, you can too. It is painless, I felt great afterwards and The happy pills worked.
Before I knew it 50 minutes had passed and Amanda said cheerfully, "You're done!" I will see Dr Daspit in 6 months and have a follow up MRI to compare the tumor. If I have ANY questions, they want me to call. The nurse will call me today to see how I am doing.
Anyway, time went surprizingly fast. We took the mask (great for Halloween). When we went outside, I posed in my whole pirate outfit and the mask, the photo above, if I did it right. If that photo works, I will post more photos.
Take care all,
Happy Post Toastie Mary in Arizona
