Yesterday was PET Scan day. It meant getting up early as I had to have my morning tube feed finished by 9am, because no food is allowed for 6 hours before the scan. I had thought about going to the appointment by Hospital Transport but decided against it as experience has shown me that the chances of getting there on time would be slim. It never mattered with radiotherapy but this is something I had to be prompt for.
So we left home at noon, thinking 3 hours was ample time to drive 85 miles. We must have got stuck behind every possible kind of slow moving vehicle. Navigating was a nightmare, it was raining which made it worse to follow the road signs. As we got nearer the hospital the traffic got heavier and heavier and we made it with minutes to spare.
We went into reception to be told that the scanner had just broken down! They were going to try to reboot it but until they were sure that they could get it working again they couldn't start my preparation. So we sat there worrying for half an hour until they came out to tell me it was fixed. My husband was sent away for 2 hours and I was taken into my room. Firstly I was inspected to make sure I had followed the instructions about no jewellery, zips or metal. Then I had to do my medical history, be weighed and have a cannula put in. Then they tested the cannula with saline solution after which I had to sit still for 15 minutes.
Finally the radioactive tracer went in, the cannula was removed, and I had to lie on the bed and rest for an hour before the scan. The scan was pretty much what I expected, I'd had a CT scan before and this was similar. Only difference was that in the CT scan you are being pushed backward and forwards through a large polo mint shape, the PET scan is like being pushed very slowly once through a tube of smarties.
Then this morning was the replacement of the feeding tube. That nearly didn't happen because the hospital had sent the wrong size tube. Fortunately the nurse found a right sized one in her car. I don't know what I was worried about, I could hardly feel anything and it was over in minutes. I'm now instructed to rest for the afternoon which I won't find difficult.
