Road trip over. PET scan done. An interesting albeit tedious experience. I was under the impression that I would be on an IV drip for an hour prior to the scan to pump me full of sugar water. Cancer cells apparently love the sugar making them easier to see. I did get the IV but the injection took maybe two minutes. It was a medical isotope and sugar water. Cold and kinda weird going into your arm. The isotope is a nuclear substance which explains why the pre-scan questionnaire asked if I was planning a plane trip in the next 24 to 48 hours. When you are radioactive I guess you light up the security systems at the airport. After resting for 45 minutes to allow the concoction to circulate, it was into the scanner. Literally, into the scanner. You start on one side of the machine, slowly travel through a tunnel to emerge on the other side. Takes about 20 minutes for the full body. Then they motor you back through the tube and start again. This time a shorter time span as they concentrate on the head and neck area. We were at the clinic for about 3 hours in total. It was uneventful. Now the wait for the results. The oncologist told me if I haven’t heard from him within a week that I should call. Hopefully we know the outcome before the long weekend.
Parking rates in Vancouver are certainly a shocker. In Kelowna, you pay 3 dollars at the Cancer Clinic for a pass good for a month. In Vancouver, the three hour visit cost $11.25. It was $3.00 to park on the street in front of a Starbucks prior to going to the clinic and another $5.00 to park on the street outside a restaurant so I could eat after the scan. $19.50 plus $1.17.9 for regular gas. You need to make some pretty big money to own and drive a car there.
Not sure what’s going on with my saliva ducts. On the drive back to Kelowna, for a couple of hours, I was producing enough saliva that I had to swallow many times. It wasn’t thick and gooey. Didn’t need to drink water. The salvia comes and goes. I am being cautiously optimistic.
I am now convinced that the RCMP along with municipal police forces around the Lower Mainland have abandoned traffic law enforcement. Did not see one police car on the streets of Vancouver or on the highway between here and there. Speeders and crazy people have taken over. Not that I am slow. I drive 10 over but was passed by virtually every other vehicle on the freeway, cut off three times and tailgated constantly. The streets of Vancouver weren’t much different.
Overall, the journey to recovery continues to have highlights. The latest was spaghetti. Earlier experiments with pasta have been total failures but this past week I not only ate spaghetti with ease but went back for seconds. Terrie has promised to make my favourite pastas soon. Can’t wait for spaghetti carbonarra, also mac and cheese.
Ted
