CAT call

In an effort to be more healthy, I've been eating a lot more fiber lately. In the form of whole grains, vegetables, and fruits. I think we all know what turmoil fiber causes in the gut. I have been having that turmoil. Sharp pains that eventually manifest themselves into various gasses and solids. But not quite quickly enough in my opinion. The week has been rough. This morning I doubled over briefly when a short pang shot through me.

Couple these pains with some of the blogs I've been reading lately about people with Stage III colon cancer and the result is ANXIETY. When you've had cancer, all pain is potentially cancer. A cold is lung cancer; a sore shoulder is bone cancer; fatigue or night sweats mean lymphoma. No matter where the pain is, no matter if there is absolutely no correlation. It *is* cancer. It just is.

So I have been slightly nervous about my upcoming CAT scan. Worried about what it would reveal. But I was also glad to have it, just to get it over with, so I would know and could get on with my life. (Or not.) This morning I had my CAT scan. I drank the murky white liquid at home, the murky berry liquid at the hospital. I think it must be also made of fiber because the results were much the same as if I had eaten a bowl of spinach and nuts.

CAT scans are not painful. I did think carefully about what I would wear. Because they make you strip down to shoes and socks if you have metal on your pants. And unless you wear polyester pull ups, you probably do. So I wore sweat pants and took my work pants, happy that I wouldn't freeze to death in the little waiting room with my black socks and shoes on (and paper-thin hospital gown). But they told me to strip anyway. I pulled up my shirt, showing the nurse I had on sweat pants. She just pointed and said, "Grommet."

Poo. I had thought about my outfit several times during the night when I should have been sleeping.

I figured I wouldn't hear about my CAT scan results until next week during my doctor's appointment. If you get a phone call from the nurse or doctor, it causes fear and trembling.

I got that phone call this afternoon.

The nurse, Pam, said my CAT scan was all clear.

I am not dying, after all.