This morning I was scanned. Booked in for an MRI and A PET scan. Had a few initials left over so they added a CT scan. I won't know the results till I see DrT on Thursday.
It's our day for looking after the grandson. It was only a couple of days ago -- far too late -- that I realised that I could have asked for a different scanning day :-( So today, Deb has all the fun and exhaustion, I get to lie round all morning.
Deb drops me off, then drives on to toddler-watch. I'm early -- as expected -- with plenty of time for a blood test. It's a regular thing, once every four weeks, to have my white cells counted. The chemo drugs can lower white cell count. So far, my white cells seem to be ignoring the drugs.
I offer my left arm to have blood extracted. Saving the right arm for scanning purposes.
First, an MRI of my head. The scan needs an injection of... something... through a cannula into a vein. For some reason I think of a cannula as a type of pasta. It's really a tube suck in my vein. Various other tubes can be attached for injection of ... various things. The cannula stays in my vein for the MRI and the PET and the CT, they all require different... things.
Different things: One scan needs a "contrast medium". PET needs something vaguely radioactive. These are just things that I hear, I try not to think about them.
I'm held down my a "mask" over my face. The MRI machine is noisy. The machine beeps and roars and thumps. If I were the nervous type, there is plenty about which to be nervous. I just enjoy the sound effects, it makes me feel that something worthwhile is happening.
After the MRI I am lead to a small waiting room for the PET scan. Another waiting patient is clearly not happy, he has some not-nice reaction to whatever is injected. When he leaves, his partner says that he is very nervous. It's pretty clear that she is also nervous.
I'm well past being nervous. I've had a blood sample extracted, I've had the cannula inserted, I've had a finger pricked for blood sugar level (4.7)... As far as I'm concerned, the worst is now over.
The first step of the PET scan is to have something pumped into my cannula. I sit still for an hour while this is slowly injected and given time to circulate. It's a cold room but I'm given a warm blanket. I'm asleep within minutes. My bladder wakes me up a few minutes before the hour is up.
I'm not even going to mention the four or five visits to the toilet... (Oh, yes, I *am* going to mention them.) The PET scan requires six hours fasting plus drinking lots of water. Add the fact that I'm an old man. And nervous... Lots of visits to the toilet.
Then to a different room for the scan itself. This machine is a lot quieter than the MRI. I lie back and relax.
The PET scans my body -- and, possibly, my head. I just do as I'm told (arms up, arms down, breathe in, breathe out...).
At one stage the special formula is pumped in via cannula. I feel a chill across the back of my mouth! The chill spreads then quickly fades. I had been told to expect some sort of reaction. Having it start in the back of my mouth is surprising.
Then -- in the same scanning machine -- I'm CT scanned. Not that I can tell the difference, I just lie there. It's possible that the movable base has moved me to a different position within the scanner tunnel but I can't be sure... I'm told to close my eyes, so I do.
And then it's all over.
I rest & recover for a few minutes.
It's lunch time. On the way out I consider lunch, or just coffee. I'm not really hungry and I have water to drink. I know that a bus passes at 12 minutes past each hour, that's just 20 minutes from now. I walk to the bus stop. (Yes, I do go to the toilet again on the way out.)
And I'm home again...
Where my "not really hungry" translates into several helpings of leftovers from the fridge. Plus several cups of water, tea, coffee.
Strangely enough, I skip my usual afternoon nap. Perhaps I relaxed enough in the morning? I do catch up on a few emails. And have time to miss minding the grandson.
Till Deb comes home and reminds me how tiring it is to mind a toddler. Of course Deb coped excellently by herself :-) Though she did seem glad that at home, she can go to the toilet without an accompanying toddler.
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And so, I'm thoroughly scanned. Has either cancer returned? Are there nasty spots on the scan results? Or will I have another three months of no-visible-cancer until the next set of scans... I won't know until I see DrT, later this week.
Am I nervous? Am I perhaps a little scared of discussing scan results with the oncologist? Yes. Is this my first time? No... I've been scared before...
rofl
For now, it's wait and see. Or, rather, wait and be told...
Dr Nick Lethbridge / Consulting Dexitroboper
... Agamedes Consulting / Problems ? Solved
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"Avoid criticism: say, do and be nothing." … per Ginger Meggs
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