Irradiated up the wazoo

I went to the orthopedic hospital yesterday. That was fun (I'm being a bit sarcastic, by the way!!). I was there at 9am, and got home at 5pm, really knackered!!

The Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital is a maze of buildings-it looks like a huge number of Nissan huts (or, less charitably, outhouses) have been joined together. There are several parts to it, and I had to go to the scanning unit for the MRI of my left knee (yes, I know I said the right knee, but I had a sudden attack of directional dyslexia), and a bone scan of my right knee.

I got there and was told that the MRI machine was faulty, and that engineers were going to fix it-eventually. Meanwhile, I had to take a hike to another area, where I was supposed to be cannulated and have radioactive material injected into my vein. This was for the bone scan; it would show if I really did damage one of the bolts holding my knee together. Huh-it sounds like I'm accident-prone-but I'm really not. Nobody believes me when I say that!

It took three people 8 tries before they actually hit a vein that didn't break. Now I look like I'm mainlining drugs. And-they kept saying that I have such delicate veins. You think??

The bone scanner was interesting to watch. And the MRI machine got fixed just as I was finished with the first part of the bone scan, so I had to walk outside to the little hut that contained the MRI scanner.

I know I shouldn't do this-but I find things like this funny (talk about a warped sense of humor!!). As I was about to get onto the MRI bed, I said to the scanning tech that I remembered an episode of The X Files-someone was having a scan and spontaneously combusted in the machine. She (the tech) started to laugh and said that someone else had mentioned the same thing a few months ago. I always talk about that episode when I have an MRI-usually there are several old and/or nervous people waiting for their scans, and I warn them that if they start to steam up they should press the buzzer. I know; I'm awful, but it is hilarious to see the reactions. I told the tech at Stanmore to have a bucket of water ready just in case-and she found that hilarious, and told me that if I burst into flames, she's off, and it's everyone for himself.

So I amused myself until I could get out of there and get home; I was told that I would be radioactive for 24 hours, so I should stay away from pregnant women and babies. I did ask if I would glow in the dark-but they took the question seriously. No laughs there!!!

AND- it's Friday again. How does that happen? It feels like it was just Monday.

After next week I only have a few scattered appointments over the summer-I won't know what to do with myself. Well-I do, actually. I will exercise. And eat.