Here are a few they gave me....and a brief explanation of what they involve (or, at least, my interpretation of them).

CT scan:  often called a "cat" scan, although I defy anyone to put a cat on a back board, tell them to be perfectly still for 5 or so minutes while they put it's head in what amounts to a giant donut, to be X-rayed.  Try not to cough or sneeze 'cause it'll make you move and they'll have to start over!

MRI:  Technically means Magnetic Resonance Imaging.  Nice name, but what they actually do is make sure you are not wearing anything metal (‘cause the magnet is pretty strong…) and they strap you to a backboard.  Like the CT scan you aren’t supposed to move.  How can you, though.  They roll you into a big round tube (kind of like a people-sized straw) that doesn’t have enough room inside to even scratch your nose.  You hear something spinning around the outside of the straw and you’d swear they were banging on it with metal pipes.  All-in-all, not the most relaxing experience.  The feeling of claustrophobia, however, is less if you close your eyes and try to relax.  Yeah, right!

Arteriogram:  Similar to an angiogram (which involves the heart), except they run the tube up into your head and shoot dye in there and take x-rays to see which misbehaving vein is blocked in your head.  The up side is that they give you a nice medication that relaxes you to the point that you don’t care WHERE they feed the wires.  The down side is that they go in through an artery in your groin, and you have to lay flat on your back for four hours.  Then for the next two hours, you can roll on your side, as long as you don’t bend your knees.   Talk about comfort!

Ultrasounds:  These are kinda’ fun, as they do not involve any breaking of the skin.  They squirt clear jelly on the spot they are going to ultrasound, then use a square wand connected by wires to a machine to take live x-rays of whatever they are ultra sounding.  They did my heart, as well as the arteries in my neck.  And guess what, they were  still there!

Swallowing tests:  This involves swallowing various thicknesses of stuff (pudding, water, etc.) that is mixed with a lovely tasting powder.  All the while they are taking live x-rays and taping it so they can come back later, and show you that, yep, you are having trouble swallowing.

Blood tests:  Of course, no hospital stay is complete without someone waking you up every morning at 5:00 AM to wrap a rubber strap around your arm and poke you with a needle so they can drain you of some more blood.  They seem to enjoy this way too much.