Had a bone scan and SPECT this week. Interesting experience. One is injected (usually into a vein in the arm or hand, but not always) with a small amount of radioactive material and then scanned with a gamma camera, a device sensitive to the radiation emitted by the injected material. Got to the hospital in late morning, as directed. They didn’t tell me exactly where to go, unfortunately, so I hobbled all over the place until I found the department for nuclear medicine. Checked in, they snapped a bracelet on my arm and told me to wait in the waiting room. OK. Sat down on one of the few empty seats and pulled out my knitting.
At 1:00 they called my name for my injection. But when I got to the room, they checked my chart and saw that I was to have a three phase bone scan, which requires scanning twice, during the injection and later. The machine was busy, so they told me to go back and wait again. This time I only waited about a half an hour before they called me in again. Had to lie down on the sliding bed thingy, they positioned the scanner over my hip, injected the stuff, and told me not to move. After about 20 minutes they turned it off, told me to go and drink as much as possible (and pee as much as possible), and – if I could – to eat something. And to come back at 4:00.
Made my way to the hospital cafeteria and ordered a good lunch. And drank lots. Read some. And knitted some more. At 4:00 I made my way back, kept filling my water bottle and drinking. (I’m usually pretty good about following doctor’s orders. Not always, but usually…) Pulled out the knitting once again. At 5:00 they called my name, told me go empty my bladder and come in. This time the scan was much longer. Full body scan as well as 360º scanning of the hip. And I wasn’t allowed to move. They pushed me all the way under the scanner this time. Then the machine began to move, and the screen started to lower itself… As it got closer and closer to my face, the markings on it blurred and I went crosseyed and it seemed like it was going to hit my nose any second. Just when I was about to say “um…hello?” it stopped. And the scan started. The bed moved out sooo slowly, it’s hard to tell that you’re moving at all. At least once your head is clear, you can mark your progress by the different markings and vents on the ceiling inching by. Then they repositioned me, and scanned the hip, with two screens rotating around me. And of course, as soon as they told me I couldn’t move, things started itching and I wanted to shift my foot, or arm…
Results should be ready in about a week or two. Meanwhile, I really hope I got all the radioactive junk out of my system. If I discover that I can now knit by the light of my fingertips, I’ll let you know.
At least it was a good knitting day! Got lots done on my super secret project with the new Chiaogoo needles. Which are great, by the way. I’m using some of my aade long yarn, with the long colourways.
I only have a few more rows to go, but they’re very long rows….. With some very funky lace. I’m a bit worried about finishing, since it has a crochet bind off. But I’m determined to try.
The Summer Mystery is now blocking. Very little pooling, which makes me happy.
Still waiting to cast on for the Indigodragonfly Summer KAL of Doom – one more week to go to start the Algonquin. And the new package project, when it gets here. When the Canada Post strike is over.
I decided I liked knitting the Tiara socks so much that I really should knit some more patterned socks. So I found a Rav group that is knitting its way through Cookie A’s newest book Knit. Sock. Love. 19 different sock patterns, with charts and drawings and explanations – I wish all patterns were this clear!
(It’s available as an ebook or in print.)
The group has a KAL every month for one of the patterns, each KAL lasts two months. There are also bonus KALs, sponsors and prizes, and lots of support in the forum. I have cast on for the June-July KAL, the Stricken socks.
I didn’t have much sock yarn to choose from, most of the sock yarn I have is wildly variegated, or self-patterning – which is the only quality sock yarn available at the LYSs. Which I guess makes sense, it makes simple vanilla (stockinette) socks more interesting with no extra effort. But I did pull this from my stash, some Premier Yarn Serenity Sock I received in a swap. It does have some striping action going on, which I hope doesn’t detract too much from the pattern!
This was actually the second cast on. I had cast on, finished the cuff and was beginning the leg. Had some time before leaving for work and decided to knit a round or two…when the circular cable broke away from the needle and half my stitches fell off. I tried to pick them all up, but with the cable pattern and my carpal tunnel, not to mention the fact that it was 5:30 am, I made a pretty awful mess. So I said “piffle”, frogged the whole thing, and cast on again. (Raise your hand if you think that was really the word I used…) At least it’s going much more smoothly the second time. So far. Shhhhhh.
I definitely need some good solid or semi-solid sock yarn. Maybe I can win some in the KAL! Or invest at some point. Cookie A’s Monkey socks are good with variegated, so I may use my Socks That Rock yarn for those. Sometime down the line.
Actually, now that I think about it, knitting by the light of my fingertips would be quite handy …
to pop stars
Eclecticitee 