CT, done. X-ray, done. Exam, done. Uni, done.

Yesterday I went to the radiology office for the CT scan and the x-rays. It was fairly uneventful and nowhere near as scary as I thought it would be.

After having my name called, I followed a cute blond guy (who would have been named “Rusty” if he were American, or so I thought on the day) through the maze of corridors to the CT room. He asked me where the pain was and I showed him as he uh-huhed and marked it off on a diagram of the body, asking me about the type of pants and underwear I was wearing (I was a little taken aback, but realised soon enough that it was a question of metallic objects ruining scans) and peppered his speech with the word “mate”. By the end of my description there were more green-coloured pain areas than white areas. He had me take my shoes off and empty my pockets before getting onto the bed of the machine, which was blissfully donut-shaped and not at all vaginal in any way, shape or form.

I had my knees bent over a foam prop and my head on a pillow. The bed began to move up and into the donut-hole, until my body had gone through completely, leaving my body on one side and my head on the other, starting up into the internal mechanisms. Lights came on, little buzzers went off, things whirred and beeped and before I knew it Rusty was standing beside the machine telling me I could get up and go to the x-ray. I hopped off the bed, in a totally ungraceful way, and put my shoes back on and collected my things. I was ushered into another room, this one much the same as the CT room, except (unsurprisingly) this one had an x-ray machine.

CT scan, done.

The x-ray technician also asked after my underwear and instructed me to take off my shirt and lie down on the bed of the x-ray machine. Another lesser technician, who was probably a trainee because he either had to ask the other guy what to do, or have it shown to him, came in and started fiddling with knobs and dials. The x-rays, about five in all, were taken quite quickly and I was soon ushered back out into the waiting room to go home. As I stepped outside I thought to myself “well that was painless, why was I so worried!?” The results will be in Monday.

X-ray, done.

Today I had my history exam at 9am. Dad drove me to the uni at about 8, giving me a little under an hour to hunt down an open coffee shop and madly read over exam revision notes before going in. Just as I was about to go in I was hit by a sudden tide of nausea, brought on (somewhat belatedly, I now realise as I write this) from the pain killers I had taken at seven. I felt hot and clammy so I lay down on the cold stone floor until the feeling passed, then hobbled over to the building and found my room. I think I did well on the exam, definitely a pass at any rate, and I am now free.

Exam, done.
First year of uni, done.