Nathaniel ~ Gift of God: Bayside Imaging for P.E.T. Scan

The New "Normal"

I started this blog on November 9, 2013, while my husband Nat was recovering from major colorectal cancer surgery. The tumor was discovered after a colonoscopy on October 10th. They went in to remove the entire colon and tumour, and to create a permanent iliostomy on the 25th. The surgery was slated to be about 8-9 hours. At 9-1/2 hours, I received a call from OR staff, where Nat was. The surgery would be another 3 hours. I was growing increasingly concerned.

I learned later that the tumor had grown through the colon wall and had begun to attach to major blood vessels and the ureter (the tube between the left kidney and bladder). They scraped the cancerous areas outside of the colon as best as they could, but we didn't know how extensive the cancer was, until after we got the pathology results on November 18th.

This past few months or so before a trip to Florida, I noticed that my husband was pale and he was feeling very sick. He had battled chronic Colitis for 30 yrs. I expressed my concerns to him many times and encouraged him to get in to see his doctor. It seemed to get worse after our trip to Florida. I finally called and made an appt for him on Sept. 25th. On Sept. 21st, I woke up to find him in terrible pain, sweating profusely. I called the advice nurse, and spoke to a physician over the phone. We had to get him to the hospital as soon as possible.

He was realeased from the hospital ER that night and was encouraged to see a Urologist. He also developed a blood clot after the trip to ER. A colonoscopy was scheduled on Thursday, Oct. 10th, where the doctor found a blockage in his intestine. There were high suspicians that it might be a tumor, so Nat was admitted to the hospital for five nights where they did a battery of tests. On October 14th, the biopsies came back from the colonoscopy and we learned that it was cancer. He went home the following day and surgery was scheduled for Oct. 25th. After the surgery, he stayed in the hospital another six nights.

This is his/our journey through the process of getting his diagnosis and recovery.

Saturday, November 23, 2013

Bayside Imaging for P.E.T. Scan

The other place we had to go on Nov. 18th was Bayside Imaging, which is part of the California Cancer and Research Institute in Pleasant Hill, California. As we sat in the waiting area, we could hear classical music playing and then Nat tells me, "My dad used to play this piece of music all the time." It was a Chopin etude that he would play a couple times a week. After they invited Nat in for the procedure, I sat outside of Peets Coffee waiting for the procedure to be over.

This is the machine that they put Nat in for the test. He said it was easy, and he just laid back, laid still, and closed his eyes. Some of the ceiling tiles in the room were painted like clouds. Classical music played in the background. It moved around while he was in the tube for about 20 minutes.

The test he had is called a PET scan (positron emission tomography). A few days later we had the report faxed to us and the areas that were cancerous were basically confirmed, but there is no other definitive cancer in other organs. There is a small 7mm node in one lung, and some dense areas around the bladder that will need to be watched, but nothing definitive at this point in time! Woo Hoo!

I thought you would like to see some films that were taken in various PET scans on some random people. I think it is pretty interesting. It's amazing how much detail these images pick up.

Well, I'm signing off for tonight. Blessings to you all! Please hug your hunny. You just never know what life will hurl your way!

XOXOXOXO!

2 comments:

dderosier said...: Love you and proud of your courage and faith!; November 23, 2013 at 9:12 PM
Unknown said...: Love you more, big sis! XOXOXOXO!; November 24, 2013 at 2:20 PM