Scanned

Yesterday I was finally able to get my PET/CT scan(s) to get me all set up for my radiation treatments. While I'm not really excited about getting radiated, I AM looking forward to destroying the tumor as soon as possible. So I was happy to finally get this thing scheduled!

Prep for the scans wasn't too bad. I just had to fast for 6hrs beforehand. Normally that would be an unwelcome directive (being told not to eat just makes me hungrier), but in my present state being told not to eat all morning is more like "eh, alright, glad to have an excuse for skipping meals." The downside is, despite my lack of appetite, I still feel worse when I don't eat - must be low blood sugar or something. So I knew I'd feel a bit worse than usual but at least we weren't doing any enema or magnesium citrate prep. I was happy.

So I had my first appointment with the radiology lab where they fashioned me a little padded table to lie down on and made it specific for my body so that every day when I come in they can just stick me on "my" table and line me up for the radiation. Since my tumor is positioned right around my butt I wondered how they were going to get to it. Turns out, I lie face down and they come at me from the sides and the back. This would all be fine and good but the little table I lie on has a part cut out for my stomach so that when I lie down all my insides can kind of fall forward into the hole and maybe avoid getting zapped a bit. Sounds like a good idea to me - the fewer healthy organs getting radiated the better - but it's not the most comfortable position in the world. So I don't think I'll ever be falling asleep during treatments or anything. Ah well.

After the radiology lab I was sent upstairs to my next appointment in the nuclear medicine department. Here they made me drink the disgusting contrast stuff which I was only able to partially do. I don't know what it is about that stuff but I really can't stomach it. I tried and about halfway through it I was pausing a lot because my gag reflex was becoming increasingly strong and I was SERIOUSLY concerned about puking up the whole lot of stuff (maybe it's that you're drinking it on an empty stomach?) so the tech lady (Amanda) told me "it's okay - if you're going to throw it up I'll have you stop drinking for now because throwing it up would defeat the whole purpose." Even now, thinking about it makes me shudder. That stuff is thick and horrid. I managed to get through half of it. Hopefully that was enough to highlight my digestive tract. And I now have a healthy fear of CT scans that require me to drink that stuff. I really don't know if I can do it again. Eek.

So then I sat in a chair to let the thick stuff I drank work its way through my system a bit and they also went ahead and injected me (through the IV they had put in during my earlier appointment) with radioactive glucose and asked if I had any small children. I said no, why? And they said "because you're going to be radioactive so we recommend you keep your distance from small children." I asked if I should not let my little dog lick me then and they just said "uhhhmmm, well we're really just concerned about small children." No love for the small dogs.

After the 45 minutes in the chair to think about the nasty stuff I had drunk they made me down one more cup, change into a lovely gown, and head into the second scanner. There I did the CT scan, then they did the CT with me on my specially put together pads with the belly hole, then they flipped me back over again and did the PET scan with me lying on my back (much more comfy). All in all the sitting and scanning took about two hours. Oh, and I almost forgot - I came out of it with my first tattoos. Yep, part of the radiation lining up they'll do every day involves them tattooing you so they know where to aim their beams. So I now have three tiny dot tattoos - one on each hip and one on my lower back. Like a tramp stamp. Only I think even lower than those. So it's a serious tramp stamp. Right now they're surrounded by pen markings in what looks like the cross-hairs of a scope so they're easy to find. But once the pen has washed off I don't know that anyone will be able to find the tattoos and exclaim "I didn't know you had a tattoo!" ....Unless, of course, I make them more elaborate. Or connect them all by tattooing a braided belt low on my hips. Oh the possibilities.