Thursday, March 12, 2009

First CT of 2009

They delayed my CT scan because RWJUH was referring all their outside CT scan patients to a new URG office a block from the hospital. I have used URG before for ultrasounds and mammograms and their Radiologists read the films from the RWJUH CT and MRIs machines.

I got my port accessed at CINJ and then went to the new office. Of course I had prepped with E-Z Cat which was different from the drink (redi-cat ?) this new office uses but I was told it was acceptable. We also discussed how they could use my port with the contrast set to flow in slowly instead of starting an IV.

After filling out papers and having a bit more prep drink they led me into the machine room. Now since I have had more CTs in the past 3 + years than I care to think about I have learned and noticed some interesting things. I knew right away that this GE machine was not the one at RWJUH. So I asked how many slice machine it was. I was told 16. Now my past CT's have been on a 64 slice machine and actually one might have been on the 128 slice machine. When I asked wouldn't a 64 slice machine be more sensitive than a 16 slice machine, the technician came out and said 16 versus 64 only mattered if you had to closely examine a moving organ like the heart. I was thinking to myself- how about looking for those mischievous Ovarian Cancer Cells.

Anyway, I had the scan done but now I wonder if this 16 slice machine will miss something the 64 slice machine would have shown. Since my CA-125 was normal in Oct the only way the doctors and I knew I had recurred was the results of the CT scan .

When I was in engineering school I learned to only change one thing at a time in an experiment and that everything else should remain constant.This way you know exactly what is affecting the outcome of your experiment. Today, I wish the variable was not the lower slice CT machine.

Livestrong

Dee
Every Day is a Blessing !

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