PET scan

I had my PET scan this morning. It was fine. I had to be there at 8 a.m., so it was an early morning. Nothing to eat, but all the water I wanted to drink was allowed. First the cheery tech lady injected me through an IV with radioactive glucose. Then she left me alone in a darkened room in a comfy recliner with a warm blanket. I snoozed while the glucose percolated through my system. After an hour of that, I was put on the scanning table. I was shocked at how narrow it was. Even a thin person would hang over the edges. She propped my knees up a little and there was a pillow for my head, but my arms were dangling over the sides. The tech put another warm blanket over me and tucked it in under me so my arms were trapped inside against my sides. Of course as soon as she did that, my nose itched! LOL

I am big, so when I went into the machine my arms were rubbing up against the sides and felt squashed. It wasn't terrible, and she said it didn't matter for the scan if I touched the sides. The scan took an hour. About every 8 or 9 minutes, the machine inched me a little farther into the tube. I tried to snooze again so as not to think about how much time was passing, but it was impossible. After awhile my back was hurting from lying still on the hard table. My arms and hands started to go to sleep from being squashed, and eventually my feet and legs started to go to sleep, too. Just when I thought I couldn't take it anymore, it was over and I was brought out of the machine. It hurt a little to sit up because I was so stiff.

Then I had to go to another room for a regular CT scan. At least that only took about 3 minutes, but I had to lay on another hard table. My back wasn't too happy about that!

Tomorrow I have the bone density scan at 9:30 a.m. followed by the radiation planning session at 11 a.m. Usually the radiation tech puts sharpie markings on me, and then in a week when the actual radiation starts, he would do permanent tattooing. I reminded him today that I'm going on a cruise for three weeks, and I want to swim and hot tub while on the ship. He said the markings would be gone by then, so now they are trying to figure out how to get the permanent tattooing done by the end of this week. It will either be tomorrow or Thursday. Fun times ahead.

We left the cancer center at 11:30 a.m. It was a long morning in there, but then we had some fun! We drove to the Old Key West resort in Disney World for lunch at Olivia's. Mark had recently read a great review of the place. I had the half tuna sandwich and bowl of creamy tomato soup. It came with a little salad on the side. I also indulged in a delicious Rum Runner cocktail and the Key Lime Tart with coffee for dessert. Everything was just spectacular. Mark had grilled tuna steak with fried yellow tomatoes and french fries. He also said it was truly delicious. This is a restaurant we would totally go back to and recommend to anyone.

After lunch, we went home, changed our clothes, and headed to the Palms for our exercise. Mark did his water aerobics as well, but I can't get my surgical area wet until Wednesday. I went in the pool up to my waist and walked in the water for 20 minutes while he did his aerobics. We also had time to go the farmer's market on the Solivita property. Everything looked so fresh and delicious. I bought a pear, an orange, and a cantaloupe. We walked all the way up and down the main village area of Solivita for some exercise, too.

Now we're home and Mark is busily doing some household repairs and cleaning up chores. I'm impressed with his industriousness! We are having our first guests come tomorrow afternoon, so I guess that spurred him on. The house is clearly still a work in progress with many boxes all around yet. Our friends will understand, though. We are going to have a nice visit with them and then take them to dinner at our Solivita restaurant, the Stonegate Grille. I'm excited to show off our house and community to our longtime friends from WV, Walter and Lore.

I will weigh myself tomorrow morning and report the results. Stay tuned!