Barium

Barium (pronounced /ˈbɛəriəm/) is a chemical element. It has the symbol Ba, and atomic number 56. Barium is a soft silvery metallic alkaline earth metal. It is never found in nature in its pure form due to its reactivity with air. Its oxide is historically known as baryta but it reacts with water and carbon dioxide and is not found as a mineral. The most common naturally occurring minerals are the very insoluble barium sulfate, BaSO4 (barite), and barium carbonate, BaCO3 (witherite). Benitoite is a rare gem containing barium.

*Barium compounds, and especially barite (BaSO4), are extremely important to the petroleum industry. Barite is used in drilling mud, a weighting agent in drilling new oil wells.

*Barium sulfate is used as a radiocontrast agent for X-ray imaging of the digestive system ("barium meals" and "barium enemas").

They forgot to add "tastes like shit". I find it interesting in the metaphorical connectoin between the two uses (of which there are many uses of Barium). Anyway, yes, I had to drink this stuff today for a Barium Small Bowel Series. I've been having some bad cramping & bloating issues, which I've been trying to resolve with a good physician. He ordered a series of Nuclear Photos today for my large & small intestines, as well as the colon. The X-ray tech was nice enough to flavor the drink with some Crystal Light. Granted, I knew what I was drinking underneath that flavor, and the chalky, salty, undertones were still there. However, it was head and shoulders above any other times I've had it...I tell ya that much. After the gamma ray blasts to my entire midsection, they decided to get some closer photos. They put this thing directly on my stomach...it was like an X-ray "wheel" sorta thing that like rolled over my stomach and took pictures. Being the curious guy I am, I looked over my right shoulder at the montiors, and was blown away! I've seen X-rays, MRI's, Cat Scans, bone scans, and any other "orthopedic" type film from my trainer days. I've never seen internal organs though. This was so flippin cool. As the x-ray device rolled over my stomach, I was asked to change positions more to my side and could see my internals shifting around. It was pretty sweet I gotta say. I've never seen this stuff except in my old anatomy books and on the cadavers in undergrad. Our bodies are freakin' amazing!

No word on what is up, but, historic reports have me responding initially to pro-biotics, then, their effectiveness fizzles out. So, I'm hoping these pics will help.

In the meantime, here's a laugh.