Tag: CT Scan

Today I had an appointment for a head CT scan. I’ll say right now that there’s really nothing to worry about, and the point of this post isn’t about my well-being. So what’s it about? It’s about the machine. The CT scanning machine is so cool! Cool to the point that I asked if I could take a photo. The tech’s response: “Well, we’re not really hiding anything… so I guess so”. I can only imagine how expensive that machine is. A quick google search puts the estimates in the 500K to a million dollar range, maybe even more. Plus, with operation and labour costs, I’m sure it’s a costly procedure.

According to Wikipedia, CT scanning of the head is used to detect infarction, tumours, calcifications, haemorrhage and bone tauma. CT stands for “computed tomography” and refers to the computation of tomography (sliced/sectioned imaging) from ionizing radiation (X-ray) images.

The whole event was pretty quick. Actually, I think I was done in less than 10 minutes. The prep involved wearing a medical cap and something to cover my eyes. The most important thing was to keep my head completly straight and steady in the head rest for the entire duration of the scan. Then there was a fairly loud whirring sound and small movements of the table as scanner zapped my head with x-rays and snapped images. Then I was sent on my merry way like nothing happened. It was an interesting experience.

The next time I visit my doctor, I’ll ask him to go through the images with me. I’m sure my brain will showcase its photogeneticism, which, as a reminder, is the genetic predisposition to showcase awesome photogenic abilities and appear aesthetically pleasing in at least 95% of all photographs *… and cue smile*. Or in this case, *… and fire neuron*. Obviously, I’m hoping for these images to be aesthetically pleasing 100% of the time :).