Freaking freaky

• Bone scan

So I went to the nuclear medicine department at the hospital first thing this morning for the start of the bone scan process. I'm injected with a tracer and I'll have to come back to the hospital 3 hours later for the scan. Thank goodness it's such a nice day outside and I'll have time to run errands and... oh wait, it's snowing and cold and miserable. (Thank you St. Louis.) The actual scan itself takes 25 minutes once it starts. Similar but different than a CT or MRI machine, the closeness of the machine to my face is a little scary but the openness on the sides helps to keep me from freaking out.

Both times when I entered the hospital, I took one of the masks that they offer next to the hand sanitizing gel upon entering the hospital. Next to the masks, the instructions say, "if you haven't gotten your flu shot, please take a mask to help prevent the spread of the flu." What about when your doctor thinks that you actually HAVE the flu? Waiting down in the nuclear medicine department, I feel like every person that walks by is giving me a strange look. I'm thinking, "hello people, I'm doing my part to prevent the spread of the flu, embrace the mask!" I wonder if the doctors and nurses all think the masks aren't really helpful or if they think I'm one of the loonies who thinks that she always needs one. Anyway, I decide to take it off to inspect it, maybe it is on backwards or something. And oopsie, blood from my nose has been dripping down on to the mask and it really is quite freaky looking. For me, the sight of a bit of blood on the mask isn't scary, because having a dry and constantly a little bit bloody nose has been one of the side effects of chemo. But to these other folks that just walked past me, I get it now, you win, the strange looks might have been warranted. Get off my case though, it's a hospital. If my life was all rainbows and butterflies (or cartwheels and cupcakes), I would not be sitting in the waiting room of a nuclear medicine department at a hospital. Okie dokie?