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Medical Forum / Diseases and Disorders / Arthritis / March 2006CT SCAN ETC...UPDATE (LONG)
My CT Scan on Tuesday had a few twists and turns. After I drank my wonderful two containers of banana flavored barium I was taken down for my IV for the iodine contrast. I immediately informed the nurse that I have very small hard to locate veins and she might want to contact the special IV team to do this or I could go to the Cancer Center to have them do it. I let her do it once and she said she had it OK. While they were doing the CT scan, the person injecting the iodine realized that my arm was swelling. They stopped everything and did another IV in the other arm. They finished the scan and sent me to the special operations unit. Their protocol is to contact the Plastic Surgery Department which they did, but it took quite a while for them to respond. In the meantime they packed it in ice i5 minutes on 15 minutes off. Over two hours here. The iodine had leaked under my skin and infiltrated underneath it because in fact the first IV had not been inserted properly. I had a swollen spot the size of half a pear. The Plastic Surgeons were called because this could develop a wound if not treated properly. I finally got to go home (arrived at 12 noon and left at 4 PM). Instructions, elevate my arm and put on warm compresses and do not rub or touch. If redness or increased swelling appears go immediately to the ER. The swelling is going down slowly (they said it would take at least a week to subside) I see my Oncologist next week for my CT scan results and see the Plastic Surgeon on the 23rd. My appointment with the Pulmonary Doc about my shortness of breath and breathing problems resulted in no RA related lung problems, no COPD or other lung problems. Told to expect sporadic asthma like symptoms. Got Singular a nasal spray to dry up my sinuses and Flonase. These are working fairly well. Suggested I see an ENT Doc. I posted earlier about my adverse reaction to the Fentanyl patch. My oldest Daughter has Fibro, Osteoporosis and Spinal Stenosis, her pain levels are much higher than mine. She has been on the Fentanyl patch for some time now and had the same reaction I had when she first tried it. Her doctor had her cut the patch into quarters and apply them in the same manner as the full patch. She advanced to half patches and then the full patch. She is now on the maximum strength. I told my RD about this and he has suggested I use the same approach. I will wait till the arm situation is definitely under control. This is the same Daughter I posted about earlier who gained 20 pounds and had headaches and all over edema after three rounds of steroid epidural injections for her stenosis. These were her first injections and they had been spaced out in the usual manner. Sorry, there was a lot of catching up to do. Don W Thanks for the 'head's up' on the steroid injections. I just lost the extra weight I put on when I first went on Prednisone.....and lost another 4 lbs on top of it. No, no diet--just moving around a bit more that the weather has warmed up enuf for me to be outdoors for longer periods of time. Expect to be inside the rest of today and tomooorrwo as we have another storm coming in. Butterfly > My CT Scan on Tuesday had a few twists and turns. After I drank my > wonderful two [quoted text clipped - 67 lines] > > Don W I have had two rounds of injections and did not experience any weight gain. I take 5 MG Pred. daily and have weight gain swelling issues with it. Docs told my daughter it may take a year for this to resolve with her. Everyone's system is different. Don W > Thanks for the 'head's up' on the steroid injections. I just lost the extra > weight I put on when I first went on Prednisone.....and lost another 4 lbs [quoted text clipped - 76 lines] >> >>Don W your post makes me mad, don. if she'd listened to you about your vein in the first place, it wouldn't have happened. and if she had gotten the IV team in to do it, she would have labeled you a difficult patient. grrr. hope it heals quickly. diane Next time Cancer Doc sets up a CT scan or anything requiring an IV I will ask him to schedule the lab to do the IV and avoid the problem. They do a good job there. Don W. > your post makes me mad, don. if she'd listened to you about your vein > in the first place, it wouldn't have happened. and if she had gotten > the IV team in to do it, she would have labeled you a difficult > patient. grrr. hope it heals quickly. > > diane an experience like that could make me want to insist on seeing the blood return on EVERY IV in my future! Certainly every iv they'll be shooting contrast through. Don't know why some nurses see warnings such as yours as a challenge rather than wise advice from a patient who knows. Got my fingers crossed and saying my prayers that the arm heals nicely and that your CT reports comes back clear. You know, it's funny about the differences between parents and children. My dad had RA (the P seems to come from my mom's side). Daddy also had a very high pain threshold. I'm not sure how good that was - he might have pushed more for more effective treatment if he'd felt more pain from his joints but it did keep him functioning more than I could have. There have been times I wish I'd inherited his pain threshold along with my parents' auto-immune glitches.  SignatureNann remove the Gator cheer to email me Simply the thing I am shall make me live --- William Shakespeare Thanks Nann. I will have them scheduled at the Cancer Center whenever I require an IV. Yes pain tolerance is certainly different between family members. I probably tolerate pain better than either of my daughters who have pain issues, Both of my daughters have Fibro with each having add medical issues which have their own pain issues, I hate for them to have these issues I always wish there were something I could do for them, but we know they have to deal with it pretty much on their own If I can provide some comfort item I try to do that and tell them what I find helps me. My Dad had heart problems, my Mom had colon cancer. my Grandmother Cancer and I had an Aunt on my Dad's side who had RA. My Brother had polio as a child and heart problems as an adult. One of his sons has Diabetes, which came from his Diabetic Mother. Don W > an experience like that could make me want to insist on seeing the blood > return on EVERY IV in my future! Certainly every iv they'll be shooting [quoted text clipped - 10 lines] > wish I'd inherited his pain threshold along with my parents' auto-immune > glitches. > Yes pain tolerance is certainly different between family members. > I probably tolerate pain better than either of my daughters who > have pain issues, Both of my daughters have Fibro with each having > add medical issues which have their own pain issues, I'm always careful to make a distinction between pain *tolerance* and pain *threshold*. Tolerance being what you can put up with as in whether you whine endlessly at a level of 3 or consider 6-7 "normal", as so many of us do. Tolerance is something that can be learned or developed. Threshold is the point at which you begin to perceive something as pain. It has more to do with your individual nerve sensations. Surgeons were always stunned at how little pain medicine Daddy used, even the first day or two post-op. They'd keep telling him to take medicine as he'd heal better if he wasn't in pain and he'd keep telling them he *wasn't* in pain. As I say, the down side is his deteriorating joints did't cause him much pain so he stuck with treatment by a GP for too long. He ahd the fatigue and stiffness but experienced almost no *pain* from his RA, even when his finger joints were obviously mangled by the disease. SignatureNann remove the Gator cheer to email me Simply the thing I am shall make me live --- William Shakespeare They pulled something like this on me when I was having an MRI. I didn't know I was going to need an IV and they didn't even try to start it until mid-way through the procedure. Won't happen again. I've maxed out on my lifetime quota of iodine. And the cochlear implant makes MRI's problematic. I know the name and location of all the best vampires in town. You make me rethink my position of letting the amateurs have one practice try. Jo > My CT Scan on Tuesday had a few twists and turns. After I drank my > wonderful two [quoted text clipped - 67 lines] > > Don W Oh Don, That was horrible. I hope you are doing much better now with the arm. I feel for you. I have had them mess up with my ivs so much too. I feel for any one that has that problem. I hope all goes well at the Oncologist and the Plastic Surgeon. I am glad that t he breathing isn't something more serious than Asthma. I know that is serious as i have it too, but I hope you know what I mean. I hope the Fentanyl patch does work ok for you this time. Send my best wishes to your daughter also for all she is dealing with. Wishing you the best in all this. SignatureHugs, prayers, good thoughts, Warm fuzzies, TLC, and Love Squirrely Jo > My CT Scan on Tuesday had a few twists and turns. After I drank my > wonderful two [quoted text clipped - 67 lines] > > Don W |
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