The Infamous PET SCAN / March 14, 2017

Everybody has heard of a PET SCAN.  It is a magical machine that you lay on and it scans your body and tells you if you have any cancer.  It is so accurate that it can pick up single cancer cells.  Well, I thought so to but that is not quite the truth. 

I was scheduled for my PET SCAN on March 14th.  It is an easy and painless scan, similar to an MRI or a CT SCAN.  The way it works is you go two days without eating ANY sugar, breads or other carbohydrates.  You cannot exercise or doing anything strenuous for 24 hours before the scan.  When you show up at the hospital you are given an IV which has a radioactive sugar in it. 

The reason for this is that cancer absolutely loves sugar.  Cancer is basically a bunch of cells that are reproducing at an accelerated rate.  Because the cancer cells reproduce or split so quickly, they need a lot of food.  Sugar is the best source of energy for these cells.

Once you are given this radioactive sugar, you are put in a recliner for an hour while the sugar goes through your body.  They then take you to the scan and scan your whole body.  The scan finds the organs or tumors that are up taking this sugar and it causes these organs or tumors to glow from the radiation.

After I finished this scan, I was told my doctor would have the results the next day.  When I go to see him I should be able to find out where the primary tumor is, and how advanced the cancer is.  The concern is that it may be in the lungs.  If that is the case, the cure rate just dropped extensively.


Now we go home and pretend everything is normal and wait for the results the next day.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Teeth Extraction Surgery / April 5, 2017

Image
It is April 5th and I am back at Orlando Health hospital for more outpatient surgery.   This time I am scheduled to have eight teeth and my tori bones removed from my mouth.   I am not as concerned about the dental extractions, but don’t get me wrong they will suck, as I am bout another round of general anesthesia. I have been assured that the hospital staff knows how hard anesthesia is on my body, and I have the same anesthesiologist.   This guy seems like he is really on the ball and is telling me all of the precautions he is taking so we don’t have the same problem as last time.   He also explains that since I ma having dental surgery, he has to intubate me for my oxygen through my nose.   He warned me that I will have a bloody nose and sore throat when I come out of surgery. Kim is concerned enough for both of us, and I feel really bad for her.   People always worry about the patient, but the caregiver has just as hard of a job if not harder.   The patient just has t
Read more

Day 17... I Have Passed The Halfway Point In Radiation / May 23, 2017

Image
Wow, I can't believe today I have gone passed the half way point in my radiation treatments.  From here it is all downhill.  The side effects of the radiation will start to intensify, but at least I can see the end approaching. It is the day after my chemo treatment, and this is always a hard day.  I feel like I have been run over by a large truck, twice.  I spend a lot of the day resting and napping so that I don't exhaust myself or get myself too nauseous. After my radiation treatment I get to go back to the cancer center and have fluids run through my veins. This may not sound like a good thing to most people, but for me it is a boost of energy and helps push the chemo drugs out of my kidneys and out of my body.  It really does help with the recovery. On the fun side of things, my body now does a new trick.  The radiation is obliterating my sinus cavities. I have to do a sinus rinse every day to keep my sinuses clear and keep working smooth.  Now when I do my rins
Read more

Swallow Test and Nutrition / March 17, 2017

On March 17 th I was scheduled for a Swallow Test with speech pathology and after that an appointment with a nutritionist.   I am starting to think that my life is going to be run by appointments, and I am not sure what they are even for. I show up at the swallow test and sit in front of a fluoroscope machine.   The speech therapist then brings out a buffet of food for me to eat.   There is apple cause, juice, yogurt and a few other items.   I am thinking, this looks pretty easy and I like all of the food they are going to have me eat.   Then the other shoe drops, she brings out a big cup of barium and starts mixing that nasty chalky white liquid into each of the foods.   I am now feeling like I got set up. Kim can’t contain her laughter and is excited to see me down these ruined foods. I am thinking they could have at lease colored it green in honor of St. Patty's Day. After eating each of the foods and finding out I have “A good swallow”, whatever that means, I find out
Read more