PET SCAN TODAY

First time having a PET scan.  No food or drink after midnight.  Procedure scheduled for 10:30am.  I was taken into the billing office and paid my co-payment of $225.00.

I was then taken into a small room with a lounge chair that reclined.  IV was started and then the radioactive drug was injected.  This took only a few minutes then the IV was removed.  They turned the bright lights off and left a small lamp on and left me alone in that room for an hour.  I was monitored by a camera and given an emergency button to press if I needed anything -  which I did towards the end of the hour.  I asked for a bathroom break.

After the hour passed I was taken into the room where the large PET scan machine was.  Positron Emission Tomography are (PET-CT) Scans.   However, you may hear your doctor refer to this procedure just as a PET scan which is one way to find cancer and learn its stage. Stage is a way to describe where the cancer is, if it has spread, and if it is changing how your organs work.   A PET scan uses a radioactive drug (tracer) to show this activity. The tracer may be injected, swallowed or inhaled, depending on which organ or tissue is being studied by the PET scan.  In my case it was injected.

Reclined on my back on the table, placed my hands over my head, was covered with a blanket and the procedure began.  I had taken a whole .5 Xanax and hoped it would kick in about this time.  I didn't want to see my body roll into that machine so kept my eyes closed through the whole 20 minutes.  I could sense when I was completely inside and when I was partially inside but it was less frightening with my eyes closed.  After the procedure I was taken home by my neighbor Evelyn.  

Slept on and off the rest of the day.  I'm still recouping from a dental procedure I had yesterday.  Went in for a scheduled root canal but the dentist found a piece of bone that needed to be removed.  He had to cut into my gum to get at it and it took a few tries to remove it and several stitches to close the wound.  I was given antibiotics and pain pills.  It still hurts pretty bad today.

Tomorrow I meet with my Medical Oncologist to get the results of the PET scan.