Alan and Sarah arrived in the radiology department and Clare, a radiology technician , greeted them in the waiting area. Sarah knew Clare from school. Alan’s case was a priority, so Clare held open the swinging door for Sarah so that she could wheel Alan straight back to the X-ray room.

Alan noticed at once the place had a distinct smell all its own, somewhat reminiscent of paint thinner or other type of organic solvent. They arrived in a darkened room and Sarah locked the wheels on the gurney and lowered one of the side rails, “Get up slowly Alan, you might be light headed. You’ve had nothing to eat or drink today, plus what you’ve been through.” She helped him sit up first and dangle his legs fro a few seconds.

Clare was standing in front of him in purple scrubs, sizing him up with her head tilted to one side, “Hi Alan. I’m Clare. This will be easy compared to what you’ve been through. Just a couple of quick pictures, okay?”

Clare was short a perky with bright red hair that even Alan could tell was not natural. She spoke with a tone to her voice and an expression on her face that made Alan like her at once. It was also reassuring to him that she and Sarah were clearly friends.

“Alan, hop down and come over here,” Clare gestured with her hand towards the huge X-ray machine dominating the center of the room. A huge portion came down from the ceiling and under that was the X-ray table. There was a step stool on the floor and Sarah helped Alan step up and then swivel around on the table. The gown around him was loose and failed to cover him. The table was cold and rock hard against his bottom as he sat.

“Alan, I am going to have you swivel and lay on your back with your head up that way and feet down here.” Alan was mostly clean but he found that when he tried to turn, the bit of residual lubricant on his bottom kept him from moving. It had dried to a sticky residue and kept him stuck to the cold hard surface of the table and so he had to lift a bit to peel his skin off the surface before he could execute the maneuver Clare had ordered. Once he was flat on his back the table proved remarkable uncomfortable with the back of his head, his elbows, shoulder blades, hips and heels all pressing on the stone hard table surface.

Clare and Sarah disappeared from the room and Clare was then speaking to him through an intercom, “Take in a deep breath and hold it Alan.”

Alan did this and heard the contraption over him quickly come to life with a sound like a fan, then quickly die down. “Breathe.” Clare said, then she was quickly back in the room with Sarah. She secured a Velcro strap around Alan’s lower waist and chest to secure him to the table then hit a button on the controls that slowly tilted him forward to an upright vertical position. There was a shelf under his feet that his weight was on. His butt was stuck to the table again causing his buttocks to be pulled up uncomfortably as gravity shifted the rest of his body down. He discreetly reached back to break the adhesion. Clare repositioned the X-ray machine in front of his belly and stepped out once more, “Hold your breath……..”. The machine came back to life for a few seconds, then,

“…OK to breathe now.”

Clare and Sarah quickly had Alan up and helped him climb onto the gurney. He could see that has bottom had left a few round prints on the smooth table surface where he had stuck to it. Clare quietly spoke to Sarah as they wheeled him towards the door, “I’ll ask the radiologist to look at the images right away, even I could see the free air when the upright image was on the monitor, so it looks like there is definitely a perf. Do you want to wait here with him while I do that? That may determine where you wind up taking him.”

“Sure, we’ll just hang here for a few minutes.” As she said this, Sarah walked to the side of the gurney to look at Alan. She was sure he had heard and understood what they were saying and sure enough, when their eyes met, he had a look of panic.

“Sarah, what happened? What now?” Alan pleaded.

Sarah squatted down to be face to face with him, “There is a leak from you bowel from the procedure. How do you feel? Any chills or belly pain?”

“No, I just feel tired and I want to go home.”

“I’m so sorry, Baby. You’re definitely not going home today.”