Friday Update...

A great weekend - I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving too!

An update from last Friday's Gallium Scan...I arrived a bit early and we got right to it. The nurse came and got me from the waiting room in Nuclear Medicine and she took me to the same machine (Gamma Camera) that I had the MUGA scan. The pictures took about 30min and were to be used in conjunction with the 2nd (Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography - SPECT) and 3rd (CT) scans to be done that day. So, after this was done we walked down the hall to what looked like a CT scanner with another contraption attached. So, I lay down on the table and a large square camera is set up to take 2 sets of pictures. You must lay extremely still as it rotates 360 degrees. There were 2 pictures taken, one of my chest/abdomen and one of my abdomen/pelvis. They each take about 20min - not really a big deal, but for the first one I had to lay with my hands outstretched over my head...damn this hurt (read: man am I weak). The next one was a little more comfortable as I could move my hands/arms. Then the low radiation CT scan was done...and so was I.

I believe that they put all the pictures/scans together for one overall picture.

After this was done the tech told me that my doctor would be able to access my results by about noon...4pm at the latest because they had direct access to their computers. So, I called in the afternoon to see if they had the results...and what the tech had told me was of course not true...oh well. Probably didn't need them for the weekend anyways.

I was thinking back to my Gallium Scan and how the appointment was set up and I also went back to my notes. The person that had called me to set up my appointment told met that there was a follow up to the MUGA scan, which would likely occur on the day after (in this case the Thursday), at the same place and that they would arrange it with me on the day of the exam...This was incorrect. Now that I have learned more about what is going on, I realize that the nurse was supposed to tell me that I would only be getting a Gallium injection and that I would be scheduled for the scan at a later date (this could be 24 to 72 hours later). Either way...I think the person telling me this should know what they are talking about. Ya - this is me venting...But I'll bring it up to the nurses...as I think it was the scheduler who called me and not a nurse. I am a little perturbed at this because something similar happened on the Friday as the lady that answered the phone tried to tell me something that the nurse should have been telling me...anyways - I'll bring it up with my nurses and go from there...

So tomorrow I go for my Port Surgery. They will be surgically inserting a port (click this link for a definition) into my chest. I'm not sure which side yet...I guess that will be worked out tomorrow. The surgery is at 11:30am and apparently it takes about 30min and I'll be in recovery for about 4-5 hours. I am awake for this...but hopefully they hide it from me...or maybe not. I was very surprised at what I was able to look at with Isabella's birth...but I was stoned to the bejesus on T3's....

One other thing...I went to get my hair cut on Thursday, I was going to get it cut really short in preparation for losing my hair "at a faster rate than I already am" (There...I just saved you all the trouble of finding a joke to insert - ha......ha.......ha). I'm really not sure what to do...I'm not sure it is 100% guaranteed that I will lose it all...but think that I should cut it all off so that cancer can't take it away from me. Seems like a weird thing to say...but it might be worth one victory before I begin. On the other hand, it may REALLY feel real then. So I'm torn.

Hope you all have a great Monday (on a Tuesday)!!!

Super Radioactive Man!!!