Last night we had dinner with my brother at Kan Zeman Mediterranean restuarant in downtown Palo Alto. I don't want to turn this into a food blog, but I do have pictures which I will try to post later.
Today started off with an MRA of my chest (to evaluate the aneurysm and fibroelastoma on my heart) at 700am. Thank goodness I am not claustrophobic. The test consisted of laying in an MRI machine for 2 hours and not being able to move. One reason, was to capture clear images, but the other was due to the fact that the side walls of the machine were less than 6 inches away from my face!
Since I wasn't allowed any food or drink before that test, I had to scarf down a muffin b/c my next test was right after the MRA. This next one was a Brain Spect scan with Diamox. This was a 2.5 hour test which consisted mainly of laying in a dark room to avoid stimulating my brain. I had to lay in the dark for 30 minutes, the technician then came in an injected the Diamox which does something to the blood vessels. Another 30 minutes was spent in the dark before the tech came back and injected a radioactive tracer into my bloodstream. Another 30 minutes was spent in the dark to allow the tracer to distribute through my blood. By this time, I was really sick of laying on my back for what now added up to 3.5 hours and I was starving. After all this time, I was allowed to get up and went over to the scanner. The tech had me lay down and he strapped my head to the table. He then told me the scanning takes 30 minutes and if I moved they would have to scan over again. There was no way I was going to screw this one up. By the end of the test I had enough. All I wanted was something to eat, drink, and a chance to move around.
The MRI of my brain had to get rescheduled to Friday, since I had contrast inject during the MRA. You can get more than one dose a day.
John and I got lunch at the hospital cafeteria and went over to get my bloodwork done. It only took two, slightly painful pricks to draw about 7 vials of blood. Thankfully, that was it for today. We spent the rest of the day around campus and shopping.
This evening we had dinner with Diana in downtown Palo Alto. We went to the University Cafe which was pretty good. We had a great time and got to talk about all that has gone on since we were last here. Do you know there haven't been any patients who have experienced any lumbar drain complications + chest tubes, since I left?
Next up...cerebral angiogram.
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