What a day

So today was the tests to see if the cancer has spread. It wasn't too awful.

It all started about 8 a.m. There was only one needle stick involved, when they gave me an IV. First I got an injection of some radioactive stuff for the bone scan. Then I had to gulp down another bottle of the Redi-cat (nasty stuff) for the CT scan. Fortunately, before I finished it all, one of the techs came to let me know they'd get me in early. He said I didn't have to drink it all if it was making me nauseous. "You had that look in your eye," he said. I bet they've seen that look a lot.

The CT scan and X-ray weren't so awful and I was out of there by 9:30 a.m. Good and bad: good, because I couldn't eat until after the scan and it was actually scheduled for 11 a.m. Bad because Mom had brought me to the hospital and after they called me in, she left to get her own blood test to check her cholesterol, get her oil changed and visit with a supervisor at work about a meeting she couldn't go to. Not having a cell phone, I couldn't get a hold of her to get out of the hospital for awhile. Although even if I did, I wouldn't have talked to her because she didn't even realize she'd left hers in the truck.

So I went to the cafeteria and got something to eat and a bottle of water, then just kind of hung out, reading a newspaper (uh, not the one I work for) and old magazines.

Then it was noon, and time for the bone scan. I had to lie on a very narrow bench (more like a bookshelf) while a couple of big cameras were positioned above and below me (the one above was almost touching my nose) and then it slowly scanned my whole body. That took about 15 minutes. Then the tech took additional images of the ribcage, which took about another 15 minutes. I could see the images on her computer from where I was lying, and it was kind of strange to see my own skeleton. Not that I could make heads or tails out of anything it might show about the cancer.

I'll found out about that tomorrow afternoon, when I visit with my doctor. My dad will be up for that visit. I don't know that he really is taking this all that well. He called the other night to let us know he was still planning on coming up Friday morning. He seemed a little surprised that I answered the phone and the conversation was pretty short. I hope that by meeting my doctor and hearing what she has to say will help put his mind at ease.