Another New Frontier

Full-length X-ray image of Dayton C. Miller.

Today saw two firsts in the usual non-adventure that is my life: First fainting episode and first CT scan. I'd prefer for today to be the last incidence of either. Actually, the CT scan was painless (assuming I don't have to pay for it). The fainting left me with a sore head and elbow and a bit of embarrassment.

I wish I'd fainted in a more glamorous and decorous situation than in the middle of a mammogram and on a tile floor, but there you are. No, I did not eat beforehand, yes, I was perhaps a bit nervous because it was a follow-up screening* and I had some other worries on my mind, and yes, I knew that I was prone to such behavior, though I've never actually fainted before.

Everyone was as nice as could be, and the silver lining was the fact that it happened where it did, so they made the CT scan and x-rayed my elbow on the spot without sending me to the emergency room. They also pushed me from room to room in a wheelchair, which was perhaps excessive, but I'm sure they were all holding their breath until I left the premises without further incident.


 *I'm going back in another six months for another screening. It's unlikely anything of concern. I may ask to sit down for the next one, as a preventative measure!


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image: Miller, E. E. (1896). Full-length X-ray image of Dayton C. Miller. Dayton C. Miller Photograph Collection. Available from American Memory at http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/h?ammem/dcm:@field%28DOCID+@lit%28dcm001748%29%29