Day 29 - Day of PET scan

I was scheduled for a PET scan on Wednesday, but something broke and there was no FDG. They rescheduled me for Friday. Then yesterday late the PET scan lady called saying they might have a cancellation for today, Thursday, did I want to chance it. I said yes.
So I was up at 5 and drove to the hospital in moderate traffic, and arrived there around 07:00. I called the scan lady, and she said to be there by 9. I was already there. So I read a bit, and meditated a bit, and walked into the PET scan place around 8:30.

You have to walk through the X-ray department, then through the CAT scan department to get to the tucked away PET scan place. Very informal. I liked the ladies there. They would walk past and chat.

Because yesterday was a disaster for them, and they ended up with 7 people that didn't get scanned, they had a huge back log. Normally after you finish the scan, you wait around about 30 minutes, to see if it was a good scan. If it was not, then they quickly do another one. But with the big backlog the ladies were trying to move people quickly. After my  scan, before I even left the scan room, the next person was getting on the table.
 This way they can do many more people, but, if there is a bad scan, the radio active drug would be to weak before the machine was available again. That person would need to be re-booked another day.
 The ladies did well, and the complexities were dealt with in real time. Each persons cancer and weight have a different FDG, so it is custom made. Also the time to have it get absorbed, varies with the amount of muscle and fat in the body.  The guy right after me was fat, so he actually got the IV before me, but I got scanned before him. The ladies had a real juggling act going.

 After the scan is done, they allow you to eat, and drink coffee. I had brought with me, a banana and some plums...not nearly enough after 2 days of a zero carb diet. There was a lady and an old man waiting with me. It takes about one hour thirty for the radioactivity to get low enough to allow you to be near other people. So us radioactive people just sat, and chatted.
The lady was there because she had had uterus cancer, and then later bladder cancer. She had been in remission for 2 years, but it looked like it was back someplace else.
 The old man had a double mastectomy. Men also get breast cancer. His had spread into the lymph system, so he was getting heavy chemo. Today's PET was a check to see if the chemo was working. If not, then his oncologist will have to change something. All three of us felt that the doctors have more important things in life, than the patients, and we all thought the whole health system was overly complex.

A special radiologist will look at the scan pics, and write a report within 3 working days. I asked them please to rush mine as I have an Oncology appointment on Tuesday morning. (2 working days.) So hopefully I will get the results Tuesday morning at the oncologist.
Even my Oncologist says that the PET scan pictures are very deceiving, and there are many traps for false positives, and false negatives.


So once again I am in a waiting game. No more information till Tuesday morning....maybe.