Fasting Required

Today was my scheduled appointment at the radiology lab to get an ultrasound of my upper abdomen. According to my doctor, it might take 48 hours after the test to get the result. Since I wanted to know what’s wrong with me before the long weekend, I booked the ultrasound at the earliest possible date. That is, this morning at around 10.30 am. That meant that I would know the result of the test by Thursday, a day before Good Friday.

The ultrasound procedure itself should only take 30 minutes, according to the radiology lab person I talked to over the phone. She also told me to be in 15 minutes before the appointment so that I would have the time to fill out the paper work. Since it should take about 20 minutes to get there from my office by tram, I should leave the office at about 9.50 am, just to be safe.

One last thing she said that I should fast for eight hours before the procedure. Probably to ensure that the test wouldn’t get any false positives due to the food I may ingest prior to the ultrasound scan. No problem, I thought. I only really need to fast for about three hours rather than eight because I’d still be asleep for the first five hours of the required eight.

I’ve set the alarms on my mobile and on my PDA to ensure that I wouldn’t forget about the appointment. So, this morning, I was fully aware of the appointment and I have already planned how to get to the lab in the most efficient way possible.

I did forget one thing though. I forgot about the fasting part. I ate breakfast without thinking. I only remembered about the fasting when I got to our office. I blew it. I couldn’t get my ultrasound done today because I forgot to fast.

I had to reschedule the appointment to 11.30 am Thursday morning. I was offered to come in tomorrow at 1.45 pm but that meant I would be fasting for more than half a day. That would just be too difficult as I have a lot of programming work to do and I get headaches when I’m hungry.

So now, I’ll only get to find out what’s going on in my upper abdomen next week at the earliest. The only good news right now is that the pain and tightening on my upper right abdomen seem to be lessening. Hopefully, it’ll completely be gone in a day or two.

Either way, I’d still go through with the ultrasound. Better safe than sorry. I just have to remember not to eat anything on Thursday morning.