It Goes to Eleven!

This week I got the call from Duke, as in the PET Imaging Duke, to schedule my semi-annual scan. Duke informed me that I would be having my ELEVENTH scan and that it is the most ever done at Cancer Care Northwest. Actually I'm tied with 2 other people, but still, it's a pretty good sign that I'm still around to have had eleven scans.

As much as I like Duke, I don't like getting the call to make an appointment. It makes Greg and me very nervous that my cancer may be back, that I may have to go to through more chemotherapy or radiation. So, for 24 hours after the scan until we hear from Dr. Nichols, we are anxious and nervous, waiting for the results.

GOOD NEWS! There isn't any activity anywhere except for one small blip at the site of my last surgery in October. It may be due to the surgery, may be a lymph node, but I'll have an abdominal scan to make sure. At least there is no liver activity and it's not in my bone. Woo-Hoo!

For those of you who aren't familiar with the PET Imaging procedure, I'd thought a little info may be useful and perhaps interesting.


"Positron emission tomography, also called PET imaging or a PET scan, is a diagnostic examination that involves the acquisition of physiologic images based on the detection of radiation from the emission of positrons. Positrons are tiny particles emitted from a radioactive substance administered to the patient. The subsequent images of the human body developed with this technique are used to evaluate a variety of diseases. PET scans are used most often to detect cancer and to examine the effects of cancer therapy by characterizing biochemical changes in the cancer. These scans can be performed on the whole body. "

That's the technical information, but I just call it my 2 hour nap!