GlobalMegaBlog

I went for my PET scan today. It was pretty tedious and boring. They first put in an IV and injected me with some radioactive glucose. The idea is that if there are any cancer cells left in my body, they’ll absorb the glucose more than should be expected for that area of the body. I then had to sit for 45 minutes while it worked itss way around my body, trying to move as little as possible. Moving would make my muscles suck up the glucose as well. Have you ever tried to sit entirely still for 45 minutes? It’s pretty boring and you quickly start to cramp up and feel uncomfortable.

So then I went to have the actual scan. This involved lying on a bed which then moved into the scanner. Again, I had to remain as unmoving as possible, for another 35 minutes. This was even more unpleasant because the machine was quite narrow, and with my arms by my side, they were pressed against quite hard. The scanner would move a couple of inches, scan for 5 minutes, rinse, repeat.

Anyway, at the end I asked if I’d moved too much, and she said I’d done fine, so hopefully the results will be good enough for them to determine for certain whether or not the remaining lymph node is still cancerous or just still shrinking. I have an appointment with Dr. Kovach next week to find out what the results are. Assuming it’s still cancerous, then I’ll probably be in for some radiation therapy, but if not, then that’s all clear, and the next step is to just keep an eye on everything. Presumably, that would mean another CT in 6 months or so.

Just got back from seeing the doctor to followup on my CT from Wednesday. Apparently, the CT looked really great, and I no longer have to do chemotherapy. Yay! However, there’s one lymph node in my neck which is still a little larger than it should be. They’re going to find out if this is within the ranges of what a PET scan can check, and if so, schedule me for one of those. If not, then they’ll do another CT in 6-8 weeks to see if it’s still shrinking.

So, basically this is really good news. No more chemo, they’re pretty sure I’m in total remission, they’re just being extra careful to check it before saying that for certain. If it turns out that this one lymph node needs further treatment, I’ll be going in for radiation rather than more chemo (Yay again, chemo sucks).

More news as and when I hear it. Oh, and if anyone in the UK is reading this, I’ve been trying to call, but the international phone lines seem to be messed up and I can’t get through.. I’ll keep trying though.

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