The DaTscan or how to get arrested at the dump

The DaTscan.  (click for info)

Just in time for my diagnosis, the FDA approved the use of the drug Ioflupane I123.  This highlights the dopamine producing cells in your brain so they can be detected by a SPECT imager.  Sounds complicated, but basically you're injected with a radioactive iodine material that makes parts of your brain glow when the "MRI-like" imager scans your head.  What the Doctors are looking for is a change in the standard 'comma' shape of a group of cells as in this picture below.

It's finally scan day for me. Before you can begin the testing, though, you are first injected with a chemical to block the radioactive absorption into the thyroid.  It's bad enough you have a problem with the nervous system you don't want to mess with the endocrine system too.  After an hour wait, the technician opens a lead-lined box.  Right here you start to think, "am I really going to let you inject that into me?"  It contains a syringe and small bottle of the radioactive juice.  It was a little intimidating I must admit, but I want to see what's going on inside my head so glow me up. The tech slides the needle into your arm, no pain, he's good.  Now I have to wait for it to glob onto the dopamine cells in my brain or about 4 hours. Usually, the wait is over lunch and they say there are no restrictions.  That's code telling me it's okay to have a beer with lunch.  Since I am now radioactive and am not in a lead lined suit I asked if I had to be wary of being near anyone with this burbling through my system. The technician assured me this was a very low dose of radioactivity and it wouldn't be a problem.
After the 4 hour wait, you lie on a table and for 45 minutes a large, very slow moving sensor rotates around your head.  It's pretty open though so this one doesn't push my claustrophobic button.  Actually, the hardest part is staying awake.  You can't move your head during the test.  That's no movement for 45  minutes straight.  Well, it was warm in the room and a fan was blowing over my face.  After about 35 minutes I dozed off and, of course, my head moved.  Start over, do not pass go, do not collect $200, try again, another 45 minutes, ugh!  From then on I always ask for my head to be taped down then, if I fall asleep, there are no issues.  
My DaTscan test result was positive (or negative depending on your point of view.)  I didn't have the comma on one side, more of a round ball.  This took that long list of possible diseases and narrowed it down to basically three: 
Multiple System Atrophy (MSA)
Progressive supranuclear Palsy (PSP)
Or Parkinson's.  
The symptoms of the first two are pretty severe.  No, it was pretty clear now... this was Parkinson's.
I now have my diagnosis, but life goes on.  Things still need to be cleaned, the dog still needs walking, work still needs to be done around the house.  Just because you are diagnosed with something, life does not stop.  The next day, I fill a pickup truck with a pile of scrap and left to drop it at the landfill.  As I approach the scales at the entrance I'm reading the signs and one of them states 'NO electronic devices' allowed to be dumped.  

Crap, most of what I had was wood or metal, but I did have an old VCR in there.  Oh well, if I have to keep it I would just pull it out of the pile.  So I proceed up onto the scales.  I get to the window and the guy working inside asks me to drive around again this time slower.  Okay, I drive around again.  He slides open the window and asks what I have in the back of the truck.  Crap again, somehow they figured out I have the VCR.  I try to tell him what I have, but by the time I get to the VCR he is not listening.  He tells me to stay where I am and slams the window.  I see him get on the phone and all I can think is "wow, they are serious about no electronics!"   A minute later here comes a pickup truck that skids to a stop in a cloud of dust in front of this little building.  What looks like some type of Supervisor exits the truck and runs into the building.  I can see him grab a binder and start flipping pages.  He then slides the window open and states "I've called the Sheriff and the County Executive, do not move from that spot."  Then slams the window shut and gets on the phone.  As you can imagine, I am now freaking out.  I can see him talking on the phone as a minute or two passes, then holds the phone to his chest and slides the window open.  "I'm not supposed to ask you this but have you had any medical procedures lately?"  "Procedures, no, why are you asking?" I stuttered.  "Because something has set off the radioactivity alarms". Ding ding, ding.  "Ahh, yes, I had a study done yesterday and was injected with radioactive iodine," I told him.  He then made me park the truck and walk onto the scales alone.  "Yep he said, it's you."  At that moment, I felt like I was glowing a neon green.  My next thought was the conversation I had with the technician that injected me.  "Very low dose," he said. "Nothing to worry about," he said.  Not quite low enough to keep you from getting arrested at the dump apparently!  I did learn something new though, who knew they had radioactivity detectors a the dump? 

Next up: The day that changed my life, July 6, 1983