PET: positron emission tomography
What an ordeal! A much more complicated process than with the CT scan, but at least I didn’t have to drink that awful barium sulphate crap. My appointment was at 9.45 – I thought it would be nice to walk through the park that time of day so Nog & I left early to make the 45-minute trek to the hospital. I wasn’t allowed to have any brekky, which didn’t bother me, but I was totally jonesing for a coffee.
As soon as I got to the nuclear medicine department they brought me into the injection room (gaaaa!) and stuck an IV thingy in my hand vein (ouch!) . The guy who did it was actually quite good and only had to do it twice. Then he gave me a serious tranquiliser and muscle relaxant, took a blood sample, hooked up a bottle of saline solution and injected me with some FDG (radioactive isotope). After this he said he had to leave the room as I would be emitting radiation (eep!) and that I was to sit there in my comfy reclining chair for an hour and let the drugs totally relax me.
Then I got put through the PET machine, which is similar to the CT one but it takes longer (about half an hour compared to ten minutes). After that they sent me away to have something to eat and said I’d have to come back an hour and a half later to be put through the machine again. But the second time was faster – about ten minutes.
The Team said they were going to let me know the results by Tuesday, so then I should know whether I’ll be starting chemo on Friday or if I’ll have to have more surgery first … time for some of that medicinal chilled white wine I reckon.
casa azahar 
Didja sneak any of that muscle relaxant? i think it’d be a great add to the girl’s weekend (with pictures, of course)… ;->
Positive thoughts and karma for a good test outcome…
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wonder how long til the radiation wears off… does this mean you can read in the dark without a nightlight for a few days? Making the “Orville” run today… salty, crunchy treats shall be delivered soon! *hugs*
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Afterwards we rode back by bike through the park, did some shopping and had prawn curry for dinner with Nursemyra.
Now it’s fingers crossed for the results on Tuesday.
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I think you should take a trip to the airport and see if you’re radioactive enough to throw off the scanners. Although they have shockingly little sense of humour about these things, strangely.
Drink your favorite stuff now, because booze (other than beer, for some reason) doesn’t seem to go well with chemo.
A piece of trivia: I know the woman who wrote the program that displays PET scan results, so I know or used to know a fair bit about them. While things can hide from other kinds of scans, PET scans are pretty much the shizznit, although I expect you know that.
I can’t imagine the force that could stand against you and nurse myra united. Best wishes.
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I have no idea what the muscle relaxant was, gnu kid, but when Nog and I were on our way to the cafeteria in between tests I was stumbling all over the place.
Apparently I was radioactive for about 24 hours, daisy. They told me not to go near small children or pregnant women during that time period. And also that I should drink lots of water.
Too late for the airport trick, Rain. When I used to teach English to The Team (the head of nuclear medicine and two doctors there) I would pass through the computer rooms displaying the twirling 3D images … very futuristic looking. It never occurred to me that one day my image would be floating around there.
Last year the hospital got the latest PET/CT combo model, which I suspect is even more the shizznit than previous PET machines. A few months ago I helped one of The Team translate a presentation about it that she was giving at an international conference and it sounded very thorough. Gosh, I hope it doesn’t find anything else lurking . . .
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Where is casa az located? I need to have a pet scan but cannot stay in can you be sedated?
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