Barmy Blue's Bland Blog

Alternative title Full to Bursting.

So. Today was my ultrasound. It was interesting.

I had to drink two pints of water an hour before my appointment.
I decided not to pee after 2:30 as my ultrasound was at 4:40 and I had to try and get two pints into me by about 3:40.
I carefully measured out two pints to drink and I think I did pretty well to drink it.

By 2:30 I came up with a pun. I'm past the point of no pee-turn I love puns, even silly ones. I love pretty much any word play. It's just fun.

Mum warned me about ultrasounds, since she had one when she was pregnant with me. Although that was twenty six years ago, they didn't even offer a picture of the scan to mothers at that time, which mum is a little disappointed about when she thinks back on it.
Also I've done my own research on how ultrasounds are done now. Not much change.
Mum told me that when she had hers she hadn't drunk enough so had to drink some squash and wait a while. I didn't want that to happen to me so I measured out my water.

For an ultrasound scan it helps to have a full bladder. I don't know why. Because it sure didn't help me but still.
You are advised to drink two pints an hour before your scan and to try not to pee between that time and the scan.

I've looked this up. 2 pints comes to about 1.13652 litres and my still water bottles contain 1.5 litres. I have a measuring jug so I used that to pour 2 pints into one of my big water bottles. I mixed it in with a little flavoured water too, just for flavour.

According to my research the average human bladder can hold about 600ml and it takes about 45minutes to an hour for water to make it through your system and get to the bladder.

So. Drinking two pints, even accounting for what may be absorbed into the rest of the body or lost in sweat, and not peeing for an hour is probably more than your bladder can handle. I think the two pints is just about right, providing you can pee as soon as possible.
In anticipation of this I have been doing a little exercise to prevent leakages. If I'd thought about it I would've exercised my pelvic floor a week ago but two days worked out fine.

I didn't feel much urgency to pee until I got into the car. We got there about fifteen minutes early. I wasn't sure if it was worth going in or not, since my appointment was for 4:40 and I didn't know if they might be dealing with an earlier appointment. I was worried that sitting down would push on my bladder too much.
We pottered around for five minutes, saw a squirrel, then went in.

I find it hilarious that they have a lovely picture of a waterfall in the reception of the x-ray department (which also does ultrasounds) since you need to have a full bladder for an ultrasound.
The receptionist/nurse did some computer stuff, asked me if I had a full bladder. My response was that I'd had two pints an hour ago and a little more since and that. I needed to pee but wasn't at the dancing around stage.
They didn't have another patient so they saw to me early.

I was expecting that ultrasound jelly stuff to be cold but it was okay. It was a little hard to concentrate when they asked me questions as the nurse was pressing on my bladder with the ultrasound probe thing. But it was fine.
They tell me there's no abnormalities and I need to go back to my doctor. I'm not sure if that's to discuss the results in detail or to work out the next step. Maybe both. Nice to know that it seems to be all normal in there though.

I considered peeing there but I wasn't that desperate, we didn't live that far away and I'm not a big fan of public toilets, even if they are in a hospital.
That might have been a mistake. Mum said I was either very brave or very stupid. I like to think it's a mix of both.
The drive home was kind of stressful. I didn't feel like when I normally feel like I'm bursting to pee, this was a little more painful but in one region rather than feeling like it was the whole bladder.
I held it in until I got home and it was fine. It's nice to know that my bladder can be full for that long without having an accident.

Even though it seems that the ultrasound found nothing abnormal I'm pretty pleased to have had one.
It's like when I went for a blood test. I knew what to expect because I'd already had one a few years ago. So. If I ever need to have another ultrasound in the future then I know what to expect. So that's good.

In other news.
An alternative title. The Disappearing Ice Cream.
A tub of ice cream, my favourite ice cream, has gone missing. Somewhere between Tesco and home. We were charged for it but don't know what happened to it after that. It's so depressing. We've searched the kitchen, the car, the street. It might have fallen out in the car park. Or we might not have packed it at the till. I just don't know. It really is kind of depressing.
Oh well.

Bluebiird out.