May 4: Kinda gamma-y

I’m like Spiderman. Or Godzilla. They were radioactive, right? Now I am too!

I even got a certificate that says so in case I have to go through security at the airport today. It’s only good for a day, though, and it clearly states that the amount of radiation in me poses no danger to the public, so really, what good does it do me at all? Pffft.

This is all because I had my CT/PET scan today to see what our next move will be in my cancer treatment. I’ve had several CT scans, but today was my first PET scan. Although the procedure was similar to a CT, the information a PET gives us is very different (here’s an idiot’s guide to a PET scan, if you’re interested)—I’m eager to see the pictures.

One of the strangest things about the procedure today was all the nuclear symbols around the machines. There were a lot more than what you see in x-ray or CT areas. Disposal containers were thick, lead, and kept sealed tightly. The syringe that held the radioactive tracer thingie they injected into me was encased in lead. Even the cotton balls were, um, well, okay, they were just regular cotton balls. But everything else was veeery nuclear power plant.

What I hated most about the PET scan was having to follow a high protein/low carb diet for 24 hours beforehand. It was not fun. I’ve eaten like that for weeks at a time, actually, but wasn’t prepared for it this time and hadn’t stocked up on bacon in a while. It made me grouchy, all that not eating bacon. But even worse was not getting coffee this morning. As soon as my scan was finished this morning, Victor and I went out for a lovely breakfast in which we drank coffee and drank coffee and ate potatoes and drank more coffee.

The weird thing is that the 24 hours leading up to becoming radioactive were way more inconvenient than all the hours since then.

Results of the PET scan will be shared as soon as we can get our hands on ‘em.