CT Scan 4/18/2019

On April 18th, I had a CT scan, lab work, and meeting with my oncologist scheduled. My CT scan was scheduled for 8:45 am at the Huntsman Cancer Institute. Two days prior to the appointment, I received a phone call from someone in radiation asking me if I had my barium to drink. I told her I didn't have a clue what she was talking about. Apparently, I was supposed to drink something prior to the scan to help highlight the tumors inside of me. Anyway, it wasn't available at a pharmacy. Bummer. So, instead of arriving at the clinic at 8:30, we needed to be there by 7:15 am. Unfortunately, we have to leave 2.5 hours early from Manti to ensure we get there. So, I think we left just after 4:45 am. Getting up anytime before 8 is generally difficult for me. Oh well. I managed to make it haha

We eventually made it to the clinic and fortunately we missed the majority of rush hour traffic. After arriving at the waiting room, I was given my two glasses of barium to drink...

The numbers on there are the times by which I'm supposed to have had that much. So I drank them in 15 minute increments. I was pretty nervous about this... I've had to drink some nasty stuff before through this process and I was concerned this would be nasty as well. Fortunately, it wasn't! In fact, it was pretty dang good! Of course, maybe that was just because I hadn't eaten prior to drinking in. Nevertheless, I got it down.

On a somewhat funny note... At least to me... In my time spent at HCI, I've been exposed to some men who were rather comfortable with themselves. For instance, while drinking my barium and waiting to go back for my scan, I had to go to the bathroom. When I walked into the bathroom, there was an older gentleman standing at the urinal and, lo and behold, his sweat pants were pull halfway down his butt and he was mooning anyone that came in!! lol It was all I could do to not laugh out loud right then and there. Of the few instances I've had of individuals baring certain areas of their body, this was the most innocent and the funniest. The worst part was that I then had to sit with him in the waiting room for a while. It was difficult to not laugh haha

Then I had my scan. It was easy peasy. The contrast made my head and mouth feel rather funny for a bit, but for the most part it was cake.

After my scan, it was time to feast! I hadn't eaten all morning and I had a while until my appointment at 10:30 am. So Kim and I went to the hospital cafeteria to eat. She'd told me about the breakfasts at this place while I was in the hospital for my brain surgery. Many a time did she offer to bring me something, but I always refused. Boy was I stupid. I splurged and had biscuits and gravy. Boy was it good! We had fun checking out the people there and eating some good grub.

After we ate, we headed up for the appointment. My oncologist wasn't there, but the RN that visited with us was excellent. Very informative and helpful. We talked about side effects of the radiation and drugs I'm taking. For the most part, I haven't had many issues. We then went over the results of the scan. I sure wish I would have taken pictures, but I'll get those next time. Anyway, she showed us the prior scan and the tumors in my body. I didn't realize how big they were! My organs were shifted because of a couple of them. Then, she showed us the new scan and the results were fantastic. The major tumors in my body (I think there were about four) had all responded well to the drugs and had shrunk! We were all very pleased to hear that, especially since I haven't been able to take the drugs consistently with the spinal surgery, and two bouts of radiation. Now that I should be able to take the drugs consistently for a while, we are excited to see what happens moving forward.

My next appointment is sometime in May, but I won't be scanned then. My next scan will be on June 11th. I'll have a scan on my body as well as an MRI of my brain (and maybe my spine) in order to determine how my brain tumors are responding to the radiation I received. Until then... Onward and upward!