Went to take the 2nd PET Scan today. What a difference from the first one – in many ways…

Location:
Houston Medical Imaging
3310 Richmond Ave
Houston, TX 77098
713.524.9555

Technician: Juliette

It’s really a beautiful building with a nice courtyard and central fountain… someone there is a collector of geodes and rock/mineral formations cuz there were Many of them, especially the Enormous one at the front door. It’s a purple amethyst geode, probably close to 6ft tall. Too bad someone painted the outside green, cuz it looks like a big misshapen pickle…

Anyway, back to the PET Scan
It was $1400, and that was the discounted rate. Wham.

The prep for the procedure itself was much different than the first one at North Cypress Medical Center.

At Houston Medical Imaging, first Theresa, the orderly, put me in a room, sat me in a nice comfy overstuffed recliner, and covered me with a blanket. There was no TV or phone like at North Cypress Medical Center, but I had brought the laptop that Rob was lending me, so that I could Blog, and Mom left her cell phone so I could make calls (she was waiting in an outer waiting room while I was being prepped).

Then the technician, Juliette, came in to administer the trace. We talked a bit as I was prepared for the injection. She was recently expecting, so she could not administer, but she was there making sure everything went as procedure required. When she saw the cell phone, and I asked to plug in the laptop, she looked at me like I was crazy.

What she told me was pretty much as follows:

~This is a very sensitive test, and in order to get accurate results, you need to lie as still as possible, no unnecessary movements, no stimulation – no phone, no laptop, no water, nothing. We will administer the injection, then we will turn off the light and close the door. You will need to relax for the next 45 minutes. After 45 minutes, you will go to the bathroom and empty your bladder, and then you will have the scan run.~

Wow. BIG difference from the first test… could be why it was “subpar”.

The only thing, besides the actual test being performed (of course) that was similar between the 2 scans, was that both places had very nice people. That helps…

So they injected the trace, wrapped me up, turned off the light and closed the door… I quickly realized I was getting cold, so I did call out for more blankets, which were brought, plus an extra one to wrap my cold head. For the next 45 minutes I drifted in and out of a light snooze.

When the time was up, Theresa came to escort me to the Scan Room, and we got it going. I’m not claustrophobic, so I managed to fall asleep a couple times during the scan too.

I hope we get a good read and some good news comes my way. So much bad news lately.

After the scan was complete, Mom and I packed up and I went back to work.

I get the feeling there will be quite a few days like this… medical tests and then back to work. ~sigh~

(Results HERE)