Testing... Testing... 1, 2, 3!

I was thinking about writing something very positive and slightly sappy today, and I almost did, but Vicki called me today to ask me a couple of questions about the tests I had. I figured today would be a good day to write about them while it's still fresh in my mind.

Yesterday and today were diagnostics days. In fact, I did have 3 tests (4 if you count blood being drawn for a genetics test). I'll write about them here so that everyone knows what's been done, and then if you ever have to get one of these yourself, you'll know what to expect.

On Monday, I had a contrast-dye MRI. Yeah, that kind of sucked. They had me lie face-down with my boobs in two holes (that was kind of comical!) and they gave me a set of headphones with the music channel of my choice (I picked Late Classic Rock). They also spoke to me through the headphones periodically to make sure I was doing okay. It was kind of funny the channel I picked. Every time I heard a song it seemed to fit my situation. I admit, I can't recall all the songs, but one of them was "Life Goes On" by John Mellencamp. The MRI was so loud that eventually I ended up tuning out everything I heard (including the music), so I can't remember much more than that.

A few minutes into the MRI they injected the contrast dye. This was pretty scary. The nurse, Jules, (who happily made me think of Jules that I used to work with :-) told me that I would feel kind of like hot flashes, and that if it got too bad and I wanted them to stop, there was a bulb I could squeeze. However, she reminded me that it would be difficult to still get this test in before my "big day" on Wednesday, so I should really try to get through it. I got through it alright, but I did kind of feel like the start of an asthma attack. I just thought of how disappointed all the doctors would be if they couldn't have the results of the MRI because I freaked out. Then I basically went to that happy place where nothing bad or scary gets in, and I was fine. The whole thing lasted about 20 minutes, or so I'm told. Luckily, I was face down and therefore had no hint of claustrophobia that I often hear when people talk about MRI.

Today was bone scan and CT scan. For the CT scan, I couldn't drink or eat past midnight. No breakfast. Rusty was so sweet - in sympathy, he didn't have anything to eat, either. Starting at 9:30 I had to drink a thick, sweet-tasting solution at half hour intervals before the scan. Not bad, really. Before the CT scan I needed to have an injection of radioactive solution for the bone scan (they were really good at coordinating all this). I could feel tingles in my veins when they put it in. eew. Then the CT scan. This test also had a contrast dye injection. Once again, the nurse warned me that it would be a warm feeling all over my body, and it would feel like I had to pee. This kind of scared me because I have an awfully little bladder, and I was concerned that I really would have to! Alas, there was no peeing my pants (thank God). The whole thing lasted about 3-5 minutes and the warm feeling went away rather quickly.

Next, we were able to go out to lunch because the bone scan was a couple of hours later. We went to a restaurant down the street. During lunch, I expressed sympathy for my Pepere when he had to go through all these tests for his treatment and diagnosis of bladder cancer (which subsequently spread to his bones). It's one thing for a 27 year-old girl to have be poked and prodded (4 needle sticks in 5 days) but I couldn't imagine him going through all this. My mom kind of went through a brief synopsis of my Pepere's treatment and it was really helpful to talk with her about the decisions he made and the treatment he had and all that stuff. It's hard to overstate how therapeutic it was for all of us to talk about it. My mom and I shared a hot fudge sundae after lunch (Rusty had a couple of bites). It's been so long since I've had a sundae. It was worth every calorie but I think I crashed really hard after the sugar rush (slept for over an hour), so I don't think I'll be doing that anymore :-)

Anyway... to the bone scan. For this test, I had to lay very still for several slooooow scans of my pelvis, head, and entire body. It was pretty easy and I could totally relax because it was quiet, painless, and lasted about 30-45 minutes.

The results of all of these tests will probably be reviewed tomorrow when I have a big day of meetings with all of the oncology specialists. Really only the MRI was intended to be diagnostic. It's possible they can use those results in determining the next course of care. The bone scan and the CT scan are intended to be used as a "baseline" to determine if the cancer has spread. According to my characteristics, there is a 50-60% chance that it has spread, but there's no way to tell just yet because it would be too small to detect. Later, they can run these same tests (ugh) and compare them with the tests I've had today to see if there are any changes.