PET Scan

Brenda has had an x ray, two CT scans and a PET scan. Wonders of science. The PET scan actually involves positrons - antimatter electrons. Tumors are said to light up like a Christmas tree.

Getting ready for all these scans was bad - Brenda hates getting ready for anything. But getting ready for the PET scan was the worst. Maybe she dreaded it more. Maybe her condition was that much worse. But it was important because it would tell the doctors if the cancer had spread into the bones and would help guide palliative radiation. So I adopted my usual drill sergeant role nagging this poor sick moaning woman through the various stages of cleaning up, putting on clothes and drinking two 11 oz bottles of water before leaving at 11:30 AM.

Yancie was able to go with us for the first CT scan but couldn't today because she had to stay home with her two kids. Allie who is seven could have come but not Evan, who is 21 months.

Throughout, Brenda had ongoing "panic attacks" (they are really episodes of oxygen starvation - I'll write about that in another post). At Coggins suggestion I gave her two .25 mg Zanax tablets. Up until the very last when I manged to get her dressed I wasn't sure we would do it. At one point she was sitting on the commode trying to put on clothes and at the same time drink a bottle of water for the prep. But at 11:30 I rolled her in the wheel chair to the front door then had her hold onto something while I got the wheel chair to the sidewalk then helped her down the steps and rolled her to the car. In the car we discovered that the new regulator for the portable O2 tank wasn't working properly and I had to switch back to the old regulator.

We got there a little late but nobody seemed to care. The Morehead Imaging Center is a nice new place. The male PET technician was very pleasant and capable. He injected the substance that lights up the tumors in response to the radiation then left Brenda in a little room with a TV to wait 1 1/2 hours while the imaging substance percolated through her system. Still under the influence of the two Zanax (and swaddled in heated blankets) she slept the entire time. I used the guest computers in the resource center to email Yancie then came back in with some free coffee and watched a gruesome episode of Criminal Minds.

She spent 20 minutes in the PET scan machine, advancing a foot or so every three minutes. It was longer and tighter and more scary than I had anticipated but the two Zanax continued to work. It also helped that I could stay beside her and hold her hands (which were extended behind her over her head). She asked me to tell her a story and I tried to recount the highlights of my new novel. It sounded pretty stupid.

After the PET scan we went across the building for a CT head scan. The young female tech seemed capable but not as personable as the other person.

After it was all over she waited in the lobby in her wheelchair while I got the car then we went again to Einstein's to sit in the car and eat a late lunch. This wasn't as pleasant as the visit after the biopsy. She felt worse and we didn't stay long.