The weather forecast was for a once in a generation bone-chilling freeze. Luckily for me, the brunt of it was scheduled to hit farther up in the New England states, and the Philadelphia region wouldn’t begin to feel the chill until later in the morning.

So when I set out for Pennsylvania Hospital for the CT scan of my sinuses at around 6:40 AM, it was an almost balmy 32° F.

I arrived for my 7:15 appointment early. Too early. Silly me. I thought that at that hour of the morning they might be ahead of schedule and if I got there early they could see me early. Nope. 

I arrived at about 6:50 and ended up sitting around until about 7:30. What’s worse, two guys who came in much later than I did were called up at the same time that I was, so it clearly wasn’t first come first served. Lesson learned. If they were running this late this early in the morning, I can only imagine how late they might be at 2:45 in the afternoon, so I was still glad I took the earlier appointment time.

The attendant ushered the three of us down a corridor, through a series of doors, until we got to another waiting area, where the fellow who had arrived the latest was given the first shot at the CT machine, while we other two had to continue waiting.

But not for long.

I was next.

I had to remove my glasses and hearing aids, but my phone could stay in my pocket. As I have a very slight case of claustrophobia, once I was in position on the flat, I kept my eyes tightly closed (I had made a point of not looking at the machine beforehand). I noticed that the lights dimmed and brightened and in no time the attendant was telling me it was over. At which point I looked at the machine and decided I could have handled it without a problem.

As I was putting my hearing aids and glasses back on, I snapped a quick pic.

While she was showing me out, she said I should hear about the results from my doctor later today or Monday.

As it turned out, I received a note from my doctor at 10:20:

Your sinuses look pretty good. No need for antibiotic.