Well, I was up at out the door at 9:15 AM today to go in for my day of scans. I get to the hospital on time, and they are running a little late...no biggie, I'm ready to be there the whole day.
My first stop was in the Nuclear Medicine area to get injected with some Nuclear contrast. This needs to be in my system for 3 hours before they do my bone scan. Of course, they had a hard time finding a vein for my IV, so this time they got me in the top of my left hand (ouch)...oh well, I just looked the other way and got stuck...no reason to fight it.
After I got that done, I had my Head and Neck MRI done. OK, you probably know by now that Dave had a brain tumor just over 8 years ago. He's had MRI's on his head numerous times and having experienced one today for my first time, gives me a new respect for what he goes through. Thank goodness I'm not claustrophobic, but I think that was my least favorite test of the day. I just really don't like loud, banging noises that last anywhere from 30 seconds to 4 minutes, not fun...but again, it was just a one-time test.
Next I went over for a CT scan of my chest, abdomen and pelvis. This wasn't too bad, it's the donut shaped thing that they moved you back and forth through, telling you to hold your breath at various times. Again, not too bad, the room was really cold and it did hurt quite a bit when they pushed the contrast through my IV in my hand...at least they took out the needle after this procedure was finished. Good riddance.
After I was done with the test I had some time to go get some lunch and run a few errands. I still needed to wait about 1 1/2 hours before the bone scan, so it was nice to take a break. When I came back to the hospital, I waited for just a little while and then they got me in. This test wasn't too bad, kind of a combination of the MRI and CT scan...they showed me the pictures when they were finished which was pretty cool. The technician didn't want to tell me about my scoliosis, but I told him it was o.k., I knew about it from a long time ago...pretty wild seeing your skeleton, crooked and all! He did call the Radiologist that took a quick look and from what they could tell me, nothing looked suspicious.
I'll still wait for my appointment next Tuesday to get the final word on all these tests from my Oncologist, Dr. Landis. We definitely thought it was the time to go through all the testing, just in case and I'm glad it's over with. I may not make another post until after my appointment next Tuesday, so until then, thank you for your prayers and words of encouragement.
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Oh boy, this brings back memories! My full-body bone scan seemed to go on forever. Of course, they spent an extra long time on my arm...we already knew there was a bone tumor there, but we weren't sure what it was at the time. Then they found every little bone nick that I ever got - including a small skull fracture from when I was 3 years old and a finger that had been jammed about ten years before! So don't be surprised if they ask you what happened to your finger or your head or whatever. I was so scared that I would end up with multiple tumors! I had to have a head x-ray, finger x-rays. Yada yada. One test leads to another and another.
I hope you get the "everything is all-clear" very soon. Once you've been waiting for weeks it really starts to feel like forever. HUGS.
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