Early yesterday morning, I had my first CT scan for 2026. CT and MRI scans help the medical team needs monitor how the cancer is reacting to treatment.

My husband drove me to the hospital and dropped me off at the entrance, as always. That way, I can register and get to the waiting room, while he can park the car and join me in the waiting room. I have done this multiple times over the last years, so I choose to meet up wearing clothes that do not have metal zips or buttons. That way, I do not need to change into a hospital gown.

For lung cancer, the radiology team uses a contrast dye that is injected into my vein. The first step for a CT is therefore for a nurse to insert a intravenous cannula ( a fine plastic tube) into a vein in my arm. Once in the CT room, and on the scanning bed, the nurse injects a little saline drip to check the cannula and then it’s time for a trial round, a scan without the contrast dye.

When the team is happy with the scan quality, the dye is injected into the cannula, causing a warm feeling throughout my body. A few seconds later, the CT scan is taken and I can leave the scanning room. The cannula is removed after a wait of approx. 20 minutes. This wait is necessary, in case a patient develops a strong allergic reaction to the dye.

The contrast dyes can cause an allergic reaction in a few cases. Some reactions are immediate while in my case it is delayed. Usually this starts a few hours after the CT. The contrast dye causes red patches and hot flashes on my face and neck. In the beginning, I was not aware or informed about what I could do to prevent this.

Despite my constant complaints to the medical team, I have ended up with permanent dark patches on my face and neck. These patches are UV sensitive and get darker when I am outdoors without sun and UV protection.

Recently, I learned that using an antihistamine (Cetrizine, in my case) before and after the CT scan helps reduce the allergic reaction. I still feel the tingling in the face and neck but it does not get as severe and hopefully the dark patches on my skin will not increase or spread.

Once home, my focus is to drink 2-3 liters of water to help flush the dye out of my body. After that the wait starts. I have talked about ‘scanxiety‘ in an earlier post. Hope the results are positive and the chemotherapy is working as planned.