27 February 2019
Time for a new PET.
OK kids, I've been diagnosed with cancer at the base of the tongue in my throat. Not a good thing, but every medico I've spoken to has been extremely positive and told me it is totally curable with treatment.
I'm not shopping for sympathy, but I'm not much of a talker about private stuff (much to Suzanne's dismay) so I'm writing this the keep family and friends up to date, and save you all a bunch of phone calls and emails. Maybe this will also help out someone who might go through the same thing somewhere down the track. It's always good to get the story from the horse's mouth, even if his tongue is a bit munted. 😃
Hmm, not a good day, not a good day at all.
Today I had to have a PET scan. No we didn't take Vader in and have him scanned, that would have been easy.
What is a PET scan you ask. Well, if you didn't, I did. Here the drill:
A positron emission tomography (PET) scan is an imaging test that allows your doctor to check for diseases in your body. The scan uses a special dye containing radioactive tracers. These tracers are either swallowed, inhaled, or injected into a vein in your arm depending on what part of the body is being examined.
The idea is that he scan will show up any other cancer in my body.
No problem there.
After fasting AGAIN I had another infusion of a different type of glow in the dark stuff. This time it was a glucose based liquid which also has radioactive stuff in it to show up on the scan. It attaches itself to fast growing cells and makes it easy to identify the cancerous ones. This was followed by an hour of quiet rest. I think I nodded off. Everything was fine, until...
They walked me into the scanning room, asking if I was claustrophobic (again), to which I replied no. They then put me on the scanning table and bolted my head down. It was now that I started to feel uneasy. Maybe because I knew this was going to take twenty five or thirty minutes. Then they got a wrap, secured my arms to my body with it, and held it in place with Velcro. OK, I can do this. Then they taped my fingers to my legs, not securely, it was just a reminder to not move my fingers. Then they put another wrap around my arms. This was a whole new experience for me, and I din't like it one little bit.
Take 1: They explained that the table would move in and out for some time while they set it up, then it would scan at the end. The table went in, and I freaked out. Have you tried to yell "Get me out" with a really right make on your face? it's not easy but I manged. They got me out, removed the mask, and the tech was great. She gently put her hand on my arm and told me this happens all the time. Don't worry. Just have a bit of a rest and we'll try again when you're ready.
Take 2: They set me up again, and I lasted about a minute. I actually think having my arms tied is what was causing the problem. The tech got onto radiology and had a chat, then said we could do the scan without the mask, They'd tape my head in place, but I had to keep still. Yup, let's try that.
Take 3: They put the radio on, and that helped. It gave me something to concentrate on. Off we go. It wasn't good. I was still stressing to the max and was ready to call it quits four times, but I listened to the songs and tried to relax. I counted the songs working on the theory that each song was abut three minutes, so they were my count down to escaping. After a few minutes of lying on the steel bed, my old shoulder injury started to hurt, and my arm was going numb. I was well aware that I wasn't supposed to move, but worked on the plan that this was just the set up, so I could move a bit and it wouldn't matter. I was just about doing aerobics to stop my shoulder from hurting, and to occupy my mind. It's funny, but right near the end, I relaxed, I might have even nodded off...or passed out. Then the tech cam in and said "We're all done" Talk about a huge relief. Of course it was then that I realised I was moving around like a jumping bean inside the tube, so the scan will probably be useless and they'd have to do it again. Not today they won't be! Luckily the tech said it was OK.
This has really gotten inside my head. I think about it a lot, and now I'm doubting I'll be able to cope with the mask for my 35 radiotherapy sessions. I keep telling myself it's irrational, and it was probably the arm thing, but it still scares me.
I was happy to leave today, that's for sure.
Time for a new PET.
OK kids, I've been diagnosed with cancer at the base of the tongue in my throat. Not a good thing, but every medico I've spoken to has been extremely positive and told me it is totally curable with treatment.
I'm not shopping for sympathy, but I'm not much of a talker about private stuff (much to Suzanne's dismay) so I'm writing this the keep family and friends up to date, and save you all a bunch of phone calls and emails. Maybe this will also help out someone who might go through the same thing somewhere down the track. It's always good to get the story from the horse's mouth, even if his tongue is a bit munted. 😃
Hmm, not a good day, not a good day at all.
Today I had to have a PET scan. No we didn't take Vader in and have him scanned, that would have been easy.
What is a PET scan you ask. Well, if you didn't, I did. Here the drill:
A positron emission tomography (PET) scan is an imaging test that allows your doctor to check for diseases in your body. The scan uses a special dye containing radioactive tracers. These tracers are either swallowed, inhaled, or injected into a vein in your arm depending on what part of the body is being examined.
The idea is that he scan will show up any other cancer in my body.
No problem there.
After fasting AGAIN I had another infusion of a different type of glow in the dark stuff. This time it was a glucose based liquid which also has radioactive stuff in it to show up on the scan. It attaches itself to fast growing cells and makes it easy to identify the cancerous ones. This was followed by an hour of quiet rest. I think I nodded off. Everything was fine, until...
They walked me into the scanning room, asking if I was claustrophobic (again), to which I replied no. They then put me on the scanning table and bolted my head down. It was now that I started to feel uneasy. Maybe because I knew this was going to take twenty five or thirty minutes. Then they got a wrap, secured my arms to my body with it, and held it in place with Velcro. OK, I can do this. Then they taped my fingers to my legs, not securely, it was just a reminder to not move my fingers. Then they put another wrap around my arms. This was a whole new experience for me, and I din't like it one little bit.
Take 1: They explained that the table would move in and out for some time while they set it up, then it would scan at the end. The table went in, and I freaked out. Have you tried to yell "Get me out" with a really right make on your face? it's not easy but I manged. They got me out, removed the mask, and the tech was great. She gently put her hand on my arm and told me this happens all the time. Don't worry. Just have a bit of a rest and we'll try again when you're ready.
Take 2: They set me up again, and I lasted about a minute. I actually think having my arms tied is what was causing the problem. The tech got onto radiology and had a chat, then said we could do the scan without the mask, They'd tape my head in place, but I had to keep still. Yup, let's try that.
Take 3: They put the radio on, and that helped. It gave me something to concentrate on. Off we go. It wasn't good. I was still stressing to the max and was ready to call it quits four times, but I listened to the songs and tried to relax. I counted the songs working on the theory that each song was abut three minutes, so they were my count down to escaping. After a few minutes of lying on the steel bed, my old shoulder injury started to hurt, and my arm was going numb. I was well aware that I wasn't supposed to move, but worked on the plan that this was just the set up, so I could move a bit and it wouldn't matter. I was just about doing aerobics to stop my shoulder from hurting, and to occupy my mind. It's funny, but right near the end, I relaxed, I might have even nodded off...or passed out. Then the tech cam in and said "We're all done" Talk about a huge relief. Of course it was then that I realised I was moving around like a jumping bean inside the tube, so the scan will probably be useless and they'd have to do it again. Not today they won't be! Luckily the tech said it was OK.
This has really gotten inside my head. I think about it a lot, and now I'm doubting I'll be able to cope with the mask for my 35 radiotherapy sessions. I keep telling myself it's irrational, and it was probably the arm thing, but it still scares me.
I was happy to leave today, that's for sure.
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