I wear my gloves...

Cycling is a sport that requires a lot of gear. There is the helmet, the pants with appropriate cushioning, the jersey, etc. My favorite piece of gear besides my actual BIKE is the gloves. I have summer gloves and winter gloves. They are Pearl Izumi brand and they are black with light blue trim. Sometimes, when I have different procedures, I wear my gloves. Finding the bike has helped me remember who I am so I wear my gloves to remind me how tough I am. Because they look like weight lifting gloves, they do make you look a little tough. Today, I will also have one of my do-rags on so it may make me look a little tougher. My small frame will work against me in this regard...but I just pretend that I can run with the boys, even when I can't.

I did want to explain what type of information these scans provide. The PET scan, positron emission tomography, is so amazing. What they do is make me fast for four hours before the scan...so I am fasting now. When I get there, the nuclear medicine specialists will inject me with a glucose solution. Then they will make me sit still and not move for a while. The solution will migrate to various parts of the body, naturally. These are the brain, the pelvis and the throat. These areas are automatically excluded from any results of the scan. The solution will also migrate to cancer because cancer cells take up the glucose solution. Cancer loves glucose. The reason I don't move is because if I did, the solution would get confused and move to the muscles I am using. It would muddy all results and we would have to start all over.

With the PET scan, the cancerous cells will LIGHT UP on the scan. Not only will they light up, but they may even show varying degrees of color, which would indicate the level and degree in which my body is taking up this solution. The higher the solution uptake or the more spots that light up, the more concern there is. Now, they have been doing these scans on me for a while and they have all the old scan information to compare to the scans I get today. Because we have been doing such harsh chemo, most likely we will see a reduction in tumor size and/or amount. Fingers crossed, but I am pretty confident it will happen!

A couple of things to keep in mind, I actually chose my medical team based on the inclusion of these types of procedures. So, although they make me nervous, this was my actual decision to get this level of thorough care. It is the only way to truly assess my situation. I encourage each of you to seek out the best medical care with the most thorough medical procedures regardless of the health situation you may be facing. The NOT knowing does not help anyone, especially not you. That is why I have become a "rip the band-aid off quickly" type of girl. That is the only way to stay smart and condition myself mentally.

Another thing of note, they don't want you to wear any metal into the scans. I usually have a scan outfit for the winter that includes a sports bra, a shirt and sweats. No metal! I don't have any shorts that will work today...so I have a metal zipper. They will put a blanket over me and make me pull my shorts down to my knees. Pretty silly, but necessary...I think. I guess any metal could mess up the results. The whole process is a bit bizarre. There is nothing like walking into a door with the nuclear medicine/radioactive signal....knowing that you are welcome, yet the scan technicians and everyone else will stay behind a protective barrier through my scans. (The radioactivity is minimal and will not cause me long-term damage. Of course, I have already checked that out!:)

At the same time I am sitting still for the PET scan, they also give me a chalk-like drink called a barium drink. I am not sure what this is really about, but it helps them with the CT scan. I suck it down as quickly as possible. The old hospital I went to used to put soda in the mix and it totally helped me drink it. But, now I am back at my original health center and they don't put soda in there...so I just suck it down as best as i can and get it over with. Since I haven't had any food or drink all day, I will actually welcome this process because it will make me think of food. It will be the first liquids in me since this morning.
The CT scan will tell the doctors the size and dimension of any remaining cancer in my body.

All of these things may sound bizarre, but the truth is that nothing is worse than an MRI. In the PET/CT, I go through an open donut-shaped machine. With the MRI, you are fully submerged into the machine and then it starts making a lot of metal noises like artillery is being shot at you. It is so bizarre so I will take these scans over the MRI any day. The MRI is not a part of my standard medical scans, which I am thankful for.

Okay, gotta get my kids to my sisters so I can go get scanned, then EAT something!

Blessings,
Lolo