Scans done and good news!

Today I had a CT scan of by chest, abdomen and pelvis and a whole body bone scan to check and make sure there are no other cancerous looking spots in my body.   My surgeon does not expect to find anything but they like to do these up front as a baseline.   I was pretty nervous about the whole day as my 2 c-sections are the only times I have ever had to go to and stay in a hospital.   No broken bones, major illnesses, etc. as a kid.   I have been very lucky, I guess.    I am not a fan of enclosed spaces, which made me even more nervous for today although after Googling what the machines looked like, I was a little less apprehensive.

I dropped the kids off as usual at daycare and met Craig at the house to head to the appointments.    First, I had to get injected with some radioactive stuff in preparation for the bone scan.     The technician was awesome and I did not even realize she had injected me.  I did not feel a thing.  (I am not so great with needles but I am thinking I will be after this whole ordeal is over.)     Then we had to walk across the street for my CT scan.

In preparation for the CT scan, I had to drink this not at all yummy "berry smoothie" barium drink - half a bottle last night, 1/2 bottle 1 hour before, 1/2 bottle 1/2 hour before and 1/2 bottle in the room.   It had the color and consistency of thick milk.   It was not at all good and I ended up having to drink the second bottle all at once because they were ready for me early.   Glad that is over.   The technician gave me the "Mochachino" flavor for the next time as I guess everyone says it is much better.  I don't have a next time scheduled, but I'll likely need another CT scan at some point.    I spent some time chatting with a nice nurse, Tracy, which made the second bottle go down more quickly than the first did.  I guess I was distracted.   She put in an IV and I went into the CT scan room.   I laid down, they injected me with some contrast (which made me feel warm and like I was peeing in my pants - a common side effect that did not last long) and started the CT scan.  It seemed to take 2 minutes and was not at all claustrophobic.

We had about 2 hours to kill before the bone scan so we headed to Au Bon Pain.   I was not allowed to eat before the CT scan but could before the bone scan.   While killing time, I called my surgeon's office to see if the further pathology results had come back.  I spoke with her office manager, who informed me they were back and she would leave a note for the doctor to call me.   I instantly felt nauseous again because I knew we would be getting the results sometime today and I just wanted to know...   

About 10 minutes later, my cell phone rang and it was the surgeon.   Her first words were "I have good news."    The tumors are Estrogen Receptor (ER) and Progesterone Receptor (PR) + and HER2 -.      Cancers that are ER/PR+ respond are slightly slower growing and have a better chance of responding to hormone-suppression treatment, that can help prevent recurrence.   This is result we were hoping for and I instantly felt happier than I have in 3 weeks.  

After killing some more time, I went in for the bone scan which again was not a big deal.   The full body scan took 20 minutes and then there were three 5 minute scans - pelvis, chest and skull.   The machine got pretty close to my face but I could see the room peripherally and it moved pretty quickly to the rest of the my body.    I should have results from both scans in 1-2 days.    Pray that they come back clean!

Overall, a good day.   I am looking forward to a relaxing glass (or bottle) of wine tonight while watching it snow!!!!