I had an ultra sound on my kidneys the other day. I was a different event.
My cardiologist is concerned that my blood pressure is alway high whenever I visit him. So, he wanted to make sure that there was nothing wrong with my kidneys as kidney problems can cause high blood pressure.

I was not allowed to chew gum or eat green leafy vegetables or beans for 24 hours before the examine. Nor was I to eat or drink 6-8 hours before the examine. And, when I did drink, it needed to be out of a glass and not with a straw. Very strange.

When I got into the examination room, I laid down on the ultra sound bed. The nurse spread some warm gel on my stomach and proceeded to run the ultra sound probe over my stomach.

She commented that she could see that I had a lot of intestinal gas. I was surprised by her remark and thought it was just a part of casual conversation though I can’t say I can ever remember my intestinal gas as a part of a casual conversation.

After she finished examining my stomach, she moved on to my kidneys. First one side then the other, each with its own set of instructions.

Finally, she went back to my stomach again. She said that perhaps the gas had moved and that she would be able to get a clear view.

Suddenly, the diet restrictions all made sense. The idea was to avoid anything that might give me gas but the instructions didn’t say that. The instructions only wanted me to avoid green leafy vegetables and beans.

There are other things that give me gas besides green leafy vegetables and beans. My number one offender this time of the year is sweet corn. And I suspect that todays gas was caused by the chips and salsa that I ate last night.

Feeling bad about the gas situation, I told the nurse that I could eliminate some of the gas if she wanted me to. She told me that it wasn’t necessary. I told her that I was quite good at eliminating gas and if she didn’t believe me, she could ask my wife. Again, she declined saying that they were mainly interested in seeing the kidneys.

All and all, the examine lasted about 1 hour. She said that everything looked fine. Of course, I am sure that the doctor will have to look at the results but at least the nurse didn’t see any abnormalities.

Of course, whenever I take my blood pressure it is always normal, 110/70. Maybe if I was allowed to sit and relax for a few minutes before they took my blood pressure in the doctors office, it wouldn’t be high.