After Ten Days of Healing, I Return to Radiology for a CT Scan and a Few Doses of Radioactive Iodine Contrast Dye
What's More Wonderful than a Nurse Who Can Do a Good Stick?
Friday, August 18th, 2023 at 10:39 PM
The Kitchen Table
Ypsilanti Township, Michigan
On August 8, 2023, I made my last trip to the hospital for treatment. Today, ten days later, I reported to the east campus for a CT scan. I reported early, as is my habit, and I had just set out my watercolors and water for about a half hour of painting. I was just moistening my brush when a medical assistant came into the lobby, calling my first name. Oh joy, the team could take me early. And yes, I needed a catheter inserted into my right arm for contrast dye.
One never knows what to expect. The instructions talk about the vague possibility of an injection of contrast dye. One knows not to eat in advance and to stop drinking clear fluids a half hour before the procedure, but that’s the only hard facts shared. Thankfully, the nurse worked wonders, making the catheter work on the first attempt. Nothing better I have found than a good stick.
I discovered that I really hadn’t missed the rituals of the clinic. I gave my last name, spelling it out. I gave my birthday. The tech took charge, telling me what to do at every step. It was the most direction I had been given in any radiology engagement. I didn’t have to think at all. I guess when you perform three CT scans an hour, eight a day, you leave no detail to chance. The catheter checked out, and soon I was listening to a recorded voice, telling me when to hold my breath and when to breath.
I was reminded in advance not to move when the tech came to infuse the dye. The tech infused the dye in two rounds. The catheter didn’t hurt at all, and I felt the dye warm my entire body in a hot second. This dye felt warmer than the infusion of any dye that I had experienced so far. The vascular system works so quickly. I had noticed a kit that awaited if the dye caused a negative reaction. But it felt warm, but nothing else. I was glad when the dye cooled in my veins a minute later.
I was actually done by the time I had expected to be seen. After feeling a bit woozy from the dye, I gave up any idea of catching three buses to reach home. The Uber arrived to take me to Depot Town in less than five minutes. It cost me more than I wanted to pay, but it assured me that I would arrive close to home safely.
In the time I saved, I pulled out my watercolors on the patio of 734 Brewing, again sitting under the Locust trees. I couldn’t see the paints or the paper well, but still I managed to find the paint bricks and make two images. I’m not unpleased with the results, drying on the kitchen table now.
I’ve actually taken a sense of ownership at 734 Brewing. Every time I got up from painting, I carried in a few cocktail glasses or beer glasses left out on the tables. I’m not going to tell the owner, “No, you can’t serve a proper Moscow Mule out of a mug that isn’t forged of pure copper.”
I see the bartending community disagrees on this point. A few drinkers worry that the copper will leach into the cocktail. Isn’t copper a vital nutrient? Don’t people wear copper bracelets on their wrists, hoping to abate arthritis?
My grandparents, Aino and Edward, boiled the water for their tea in a copper tea kettle. The two brought the kettle with them when they moved from Houghton - Hancock for a job with Ford in Highland Park. The two lived to the late eighties, so I wonder if the copper helped give them longevity? I guess maybe I should leave the copper to a multivitamin with minerals and use a copper tea kettle lined with stainless steel. I am often wrong, and I would hate to be dead wrong.
That might explain why 734 Brewing uses copper mugs lined with stainless steel. I guess I’m feeling snobby because I know a shop in Calumet where the handmade copper mugs caught my attention during the winter I lived and worked in the Upper Peninsula. I keep these cranky thoughts and all cranky thoughts to myself. I save them for my personal writing.
Yes, I found the shop on Fifth Street in Calumet. I hope to visit Copper World soon.
I might be able to explain why I bussed tables just for kicks. It felt relaxing, work that I could do without too much thought. It’s work I can be assured won’t be replaced by artificial intelligence all too soon. I play with artificial intelligence, and I have no idea how to harness this bright new fire to do all I need to accomplish in this world.
