Well on Wednesday I had to have several tests done. The first was a HIDA scan, what this does is you are given a radionuclide tracer and placed under a device that picks up the radiation emitting from the certain organ they are studying, my liver and gallbladder in this case. After an hour or so you are injected with CCK which is a digestive hormone which would simulate what happened if you had eaten showing what the gallbladder and such does when that happens. CCK also causes you to feel full, nauseous and increases anxiety, all the things I didn’t need to feel.
Second I had my Upper GI with small bowel follow through. You are given a contrast solution (Barium) to swallow while a fluoroscope watches you swallow to detect abnormalities in swallowing mechanism and passage through the esophagus and stomach. After that you are given a few more cups of the Barium to drink while they take X-rays at 30, 60, 90+ minutes to see how long it takes to travel through the small bowel into the colon. Unfortunately I was beat by the time it got past the 90 or so minutes (I had been at the hospital over 6 hours at this point) so decided to leave and return later to see if it had passed into my colon, which I did not.
To top this all off, the barium has hardened in my intestines and is making passage of it out of my body very difficult, several solutions haven’t helped that much but has helped. If I don’t feel sufficiently clear of most blockage by monday morning I’m going to be calling Dr. Sullivan’s office.
Not much going on other than that, got to talk to Angel for more than 5 minutes for one or two days there but still sucks.. things will change I know. All you can do is pray.
Got Gentoo reinstalled on my Dell, after some frustration with it and its new great livecd function.. I was able to do it the old way and got it all setup.
Below are the results from my tests for those interested.
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UPPER GI EXAM WITH SMALL BOWEL FOLLOW THROUGH:
A double contrast upper GI exam was performed. The patient has had a Nissen’s fundoplication. Esophageal peristalsis is normal. The esophagus, stomach and duodenum are unremarkable with no mass lesion or obstruction seen. No erosive changes are seen. A 13 mm barium tablet passed into the stomach without difficulty. The small bowel portion of the study was carred out to two hours with demonstrates normal caliber proximal and mid small bowel. The patient had to leave and stated he would return if possible. The patient did not return.
IMPRESSION:
1. UNREMARKABLE UPPER GI STUDY.
2. SMALL BOWEL STUDY WAS CUT SHORT BECAUSE THE PATIENT HAD TO LEAVE. NO ABNORMALITIES WERE DEMONSTRATED IN THE VISUALIZED PROXIMAL AND MID SMALL BOWEL.
Tc 99m CHOLETEC HEPATOBILIARY SCAN WITH GALLBLADDER EJECTION FRACTION:
CLINICAL HISTORY: 22 year-old male with abdominal pain.
COMPARISON: CT study of the abdomen and HIDA scan, dated 12/08/04 and 2/18/04, respectively.
RADIOPHARMACEUTICAL: Tc 99m Choletec, 5 mCi IV.
FINDINGS: There is homogeneous distribution of tracer activity in the liver. There is excretion of tracer activity in the extrahepatic biliary ducts and gallbladder first seen after five minutes. Definitive small bowl activity is seen after 30 minutes.
1.8 mcg of CCK was slowly administered intravenously in normal saline over a period of 30 minutes. Gallbladder ejection fraction is calculated to 87%. On the previous study it was approximately 98%
IMPRESSION:
1. NORMAL HIDA SCAN
2. NORMAL GALLBLADDER EJECTION FRACTION OF 87% AFTER 30 MINUTES.
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