Monday, February 27, 2012

Did I read that correctly?

Okay...I feel like I've been a bit negative lately. I've been concerned about my pending scan. I've been overly worried about every little pain and abnormal feeling. I've heard that this is the life of a cancer survivor. I received what I believe to be good news today. Let me start from the beginning:

5:30 am - Wake up and get ready for the day. Nick has early morning seminary today.
6:15 am - Take Nick to seminary.
7:45 am - Michelle's Mom came over to get Sydney off to school and we left for IMC. I unfortunately forgot the paperwork so we had to turn around to get it. Good thing we left early!
8:15 am - We arrived at IMC and I registered for my blood labs.
8:25 am - The vampires at IMC sucked a couple of vials of blood from my arm. They used my good vein which concerned me because I knew that the CT tech would need to hook up an IV tube for the PET scan.
8:30 am - We went upstairs to register for the PET Scan.
8:35 am - They called me back for the PET scan. I wasn't scheduled until 9:00 am.

The timing gets fuzzy from here as I couldn't see a clock and didn't have my cell phone. I went back and they had me start drinking the iodine/crystal light mix. The tech hooked up the IV line. He then brought in the radioactive sugar mix and injected it into the line. I got to rest for about 45 minutes while the radioactive sugar was absorbed into my system. The tech came back in had me drink some more crystal light mix. It was then time for the scan. I had to lay down on the table with my arms raised above my head and they told me to not move for 35 minutes.

The scan begins with a quick CT scan of my entire body and then the PET scan takes pictures of sections of my body in 5 minute increments. I've never really been claustrophobic but today I felt a little nervous. The tube is about 3 feet long and it felt like I was in there for a long time.

This is probably a lot more information than you ever wanted to know about PET scans but I thought I would give you an idea of what I go through each time. When I got home, the blood labs were already on Intermountain Healthcare's website. The numbers looked good but no scan data yet. About 30 minutes later, the scan results came up. This is what it said:

FINDINGS: At the skull base and neck no abnormal hypermetabolic
uptake was detected.

At the thorax no abnormal hypermetabolic uptake was detected.

At the abdomen and pelvis no abnormal hypermetabolic uptake was
detected.

Foci of increased activity described on the prior study at
mesenteric lymph nodes have resolved over the interval. CT of the
abdomen shows progression of lymph node nodules although there is
persistent mesenteric density, which is not hypermetabolic by PET
scan. This shows mild decrease in size over the interval.

No osseous site of abnormal uptake is detected.

IMPRESSION: Currently there is no focal abnormality that is
suspicious for active neoplasm.

Did I read that correctly? "Currently there is no focal abnormality that is suspicious for active neoplasm." What? I went in with the hope that I would see a decrease in the standard uptake value and lymph nodes that shrunk. I didn't expect that I would see those results.

I have to call it a miracle. As I've mentioned before, I received two priesthood blessings, I've had so many prayers on my behalf, and I've changed my diet. I'm afraid that this means I'm going to have to remain a vegetarian. I'm convinced that miracles do happen. I have to admit that I haven't been as faithful as I could have been. I've had my doubts. I am so thankful tonight.

I haven't stopped smiling today. I've shed a few tears (all happy tears). We took the kids out to dinner tonight. After carrying this around for over a year now, I think we can finally breathe a sigh of relief. I won't speak to Dr. Legant until Wednesday. She will tell me for sure but I can't wait to hear from her. I don't think this means we are out of the woods. We need to have a string of these clean scans, but this is the first step.

It is a great day and once again, I have to thank all of you for your support!


1 comment:

Tony Mac said...

Great stuff, Jim! Beneath your nice, friendly exterior you're obviously a tenacious fighter on the inside. Praying you keep getting these good reports and we'll look back on this blog someday and just say "wow, I had forgotten that Jim ate meat (and had cancer) in the past!" :)