Hello Everyone,
I got deaccessed today and am very happy to be free of my fanny pack! I’m taking a chemo vacation because we’re hoping to be in Rhode Island for a few days during my next scheduled chemo period. I won’t be back in for treatment until Tuesday, September 4th. It will be nice to have an extra week between treatments so we can go to the beach if we get the chance and I can drink cold beverages and, of course, eat some ice cream!
I had my PET scan today. I’m going to give you a refresher about what a PET scan involves and why they’re ordered: The PET scan is used to see tumor activity. Where the CT scan can show the physical presence of tumors within the body, the PET scan provides information from within the tumors. I was injected with a radioactive glucose and put into the scanner. Cancerous tumors have a high metabolic rate so the radioactive glucose will bond with the tumors. If the tumors have no cancer left in them, the glucose will not gravitate to them. I lit up like a Christmas tree for the first scan and I’m hoping that this time I’ve gone dark or at least close to dark.
My blood sugar level had to be between 80 and 185 in order to get the scan so I had to fast for four hours prior to the test. I had this scan at UMASS but when I went to Dana Farber, there were more stringent requirements before I had the scan. For example, for 24 hours prior to the scan, I had to avoid chewing gum, exercising, and receiving massages (massages??? Wow, don’t really have to worry about that one!).
Now, I wait for Monday at 2PM to find out the results. Is the waiting hard? Not as bad as it was before. I’m used to the waiting. For anyone who has had any kind of medical situations, you know that the waiting is just par for the course.
Please, please say a prayer for our friend Mackenzie Sullivan. As I mentioned in my last post, she is struggling through the final stages of her disease and doesn’t have much time left. They have her heavily medicated and are trying to keep her comfortable and pain free as she lives out her last days. We’re praying for comfort and peace in a time of such pain and darkness for Mackenzie and for Mike and her parents who have to say good bye.
On a lighter note:
Diane O’Connor…how nice to hear from you. Yes, Christmas Wrapping by the Waitresses is one of my favorite songs. It’s in my iPod shuffle and it’s never officially Christmas for me until I hear it on the radio. I’m wondering if you also think of me when you go by a Dairy Queen and fondly remember the day I did not bring a certain co-worker her exact ice cream order J. Elouise had to take me in her office and give me a slap on the wrist—of course, I didn’t call anyone a goon!!! J
Thank you to Greg and Dreah Bitter for their visit last night.
Thank you Patty Hurley for dinner tonight. It was a nice surprise to come home from the PET scan and have a dinner waiting for us.
Love,
Kim
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