Go away, Mengele

It was certainly unfair of me to think about notorious Nazi Dr. Joseph Mengele today when I was undergoing some cancer tests, but I have to admit he popped into my mind. He is the doc who performed all kinds of hideous experiments on concentration-camp inmates during World
War II.

I was lying under an x-ray machine that, on command, would descend to my abdomen and push really hard into it in an attempt to find out what is causing me pain there.

The tech and PA were of course as nice as could be and explained why the whole thing (all part of an upper-GI series of x-rays) was necessary, and certainly in the long run could help me heal.

All well and good, but when the thing started to dig into me and I looked at the pristine, modern surroundings, the same bad guy hopped back into my mind. Actually no the bad guy himself, but whoever played him in a '70s-era movie.

Anyway, the preliminary results were I guess inconclusive. Things are flowing through my digestive tract fine and there was no sign of any blockages or cancer spread That is a very good thing.

On the other hand, there was also no indication of what is causing my pain and loss of appetite. As the tech said, sometimes you have to do these things just to rule some causes out.

I'll just try to bring better mental pictures with me next time.