Scan
When life starts to feel like a science fiction story, it’s just getting interesting.
I lay on the scanning bed, my hands above my head and an intravenous tube attached to my right arm. As the technician prepared to begin the scan, she told me that I would notice a feeling of warmth and a metallic taste in the back of my throat, both of which were perfectly normal. Then, she left the room.
The scanning bed moved into position in the gantry, and the machine whirred into action. I tasted metal and felt a warm flush move first through my ears and neck, then across my chest. This was as expected. Then the flush seeped lower, which I did not expect, pooling between my legs, where it remained for some time.
Inside the scanning chamber, a deep male voice instructed me to breathe in, and then to hold my breath. I did so. The scanning bed moved backward as an x-ray tube spun rapidly around me; at the count of three, the voice told me to breathe out. I exhaled. The process was repeated several times.
The noise of the scanner was immense, and the man’s voice seemed to rest on top of it. “Breathe.” Hum. “Hold your breath.” Hum. “Breathe.” Underneath, a conflux of impossibly strange sensations, sound from without and warmth from within inside a machine that was as small and dark as a womb.
Yes, it definitely got interesting today.
Sounds like a CT-scan. By the way, I was radioactive in the PET scan yesterday. I should have results today, but don’t be surprised if I don’t.
Wow… putting aside the reasons you have to go through this process, this is ultra-fucking neat.
No claustrofobia? Duh.
So, what part of (your?) body is that? It looks like your chest with ribs, but what with the dot?
Ground control to Vila?…I suddenly had a (strange?) multiplicity of visions of the idea of the “capsule”. Your description (and imagery) is vivid, palpable —
Magnets, magnetism, our electric selves. Mesmer was obviously on to something. A sensation remarkably close to the “sixth sense,” I suspect. Imagine having it for an extended period, like this woman. It would, eventually, go from sensation to sense. This story is amazing, by way of the folks at Mind Hacks.
She blogged about it, of course…
Jonas: Ooh, I haven’t had a PET scan yet! Just the CT and whatever the hell it was I had on Monday. (A scan scan?) Anyway, I’ll be keeping my fingers crossed ’til you get your results.
Zura: It is neat, isn’t it? The part of me that wanted to be a scientist when I was a kid is getting off on the gizmos in the biggest way. (Um, so to speak…) It’s also an excellent distancing mechanism, which I intend to milk for all it’s worth.
Mare: No, no claustrophobia. I’ve always liked enclosed spaces, so long as they’re not crowded with people. As for the x-ray, it isn’t me but some poor sod from the nineteenth century who appears to have swallowed a quarter. The sad thing is, the x-ray probably killed him before the accident did.
Sparky: I can’t help but wonder if they’ve tried implanting magnets in places other than their fingers. Ten bucks says they have…