Imaging and other stuff...

Shortly after my diagnosis, someone told me to hang on as things would start moving very quickly.  That was followed by two weeks of waiting on appointments for the imaging needed before radiation treatment could start.  With one exception, this was the hardest part of the whole ordeal: the waiting.  There was really nothing else to do but think.  Think that obviously no one else was taking my diagnosis very seriously or they would be doing something.  Think that the tumor was growing and the cancer spreading every day I sat in my house doing nothing.  In more reflective moments, I tried to remember that I was one guy and the doctors who were treating me had dozens of patients who were thinking the same thing I was.  I also recognized the irony(?) of the fact that I had ignored the swollen lymph node for months and NOW I expected everyone to spring into action.  You know what, some things just take time.

Finally got a phone call to set the appointment for the CT and PET scans that pretty much signal that start of treatment.  The CT is no biggie just lay still for a couple of minutes.  The PET required a special diet the day before consisting of nothing but protein.  No sugars.  No carbs.  Just protein.  I had two huge steaks for dinner that night and that was just fine by me.  I would also be having my treatment mask made that day.

On the morning of the scans, I was given an IV and then a huge syringe of sucrose and other cool stuff.  Cancer LOVES sugar and lights up brilliantly in the PET machine.  I was taken to the CT machine first.  Job one was making the mask.  Back in the day, they would tattoo small marks on the patients neck that would be used to line up the radiation machine.  I would have a plastic mesh mask made that fastens to the treatment table.  A couple of small BB's would be taped to the mask and are visible to the radiation treament machine.  The other bonus of the mask is it immobilizes the head and neck area allowing the machine to be very precise in where the radiation is applied.  The plastic mesh is kept in a tub of warm water and starts hardening as it dries.  So, a small plastic block was placed under the back of my neck and then the wet mesh was placed over and formed to my face by the technicians.  It shrinks as it dries so it is important that it is completely dry before removing it from my face or it will shrink more after it is removed making it too small.  This took FORTY FIVE MINUTES.  I am not the least bit claustrophobic but at the end of that little party I was DONE!  While I was bolted down, the technicians took a CT scan.  That scan and the PET scan can be fed into some software and it creates a 3-D image of my insides that can be zoomed in and rotated.  Way cool.

(this pic of the mask was taken a couple of weeks after it was made.  The only thing that gave me any pause was having the mesh covering my nostrils.  There is that little fear that it will plug your nose and you won't be able to breathe as you absolutely cannot open your mouth.  One day I asked if they could cut around my nose without compromising the treatment.  Once they did that I told them I could easily be in the mask for hours with no problem.  Later on in treatment, I almost fell asleep a time or two)

Once done with the mask and the CT, on to the PET machine.  And the surprise.....  When I layed on the table they took my brand new mask and bolted my head down so I would be in the exact position I was for the CT.  The first time they bolted me down the mask had shrunk just a little bit and it freaked me out.  I gave them the "let me out now" hand signal.  They told me they would help me in any way they could but it was kind of late to give me any meds to calm me down.  I told them I just needed to take a breath or two and I would be ready.  They also agreed to slowly remove the mask as my head poked out the other end of the doughnut shaped machine.  I would need to be bolted down for right at 20 minutes.  A couple of deep breathes and here we go.  The techs were awesome and we got it done.

As I got up to leave, the tech asked if I wanted a CD of the imaging. "Absolutely!"  Big mistake.  I am not a doctor and have no clue what I am looking at.  I could easily identify the tumor, it was lit up like a light bulb on the CT/PET image.  And there is the lymph node that started this whole mess, lit up as well.  Then I scroll down and there is my kidney, also lit up in bright yellows and reds.  Oh my God, the cancer has spread to my kidneys.....

A few days later my sister-in-law in Houston (another saint!) had surfed a bit and discovered that what I was looking at was not my kidney but my bladder.  A couple of trips to the restroom and that yellow and red bloom would not have been on the scan.  Felt like an idiot for worrying about that....

If you aren't a doctor and they ask if you want your imaging, the correct answer is "No".