8/27/2009: The Result

With my head against my steering wheel I listened to the sound of my tears hitting against the paper on my lap. *Pat, pat, pat*

I took another breath and no sound came out of my body as another wave of emotion rushed over me. It was as though I was screaming under water and the noise was encapsulated in each tiny bubble that rushed from my mouth up toward the surface of the water.

I crumpled the piece of paper and clutched it to my chest. I repeated the last sentence aloud three times – No evidence of metastatic disease. No evidence of metastatic disease. No evidence of metastatic disease.

I had once again threw cancer the middle finger, ran like the gingerbread man, passed “Go” and collected $200 and cheated death – my PETScan was normal. For once being normal is more than good enough for me.

I had my PETScan last Friday at Reston Hospital. It was supposed to be two weeks ago, but there were some miscommunications and approvals that needed to happen with my new health insurance. Thanks Blue Cross Blue Shield PPO for the complication! So for the last two weeks I have been unable to eat or sleep well due to my anxiety over the pending test. So, I finally had my test on Friday and it was the same routine I have gone through time and time again – fasting, IV, blood sugar check, radioactive injection, wait 45 minutes, under the machine for 25 with my arms over my head in a freezing trailer.

The test showed no cancer and no significant change from my last “clean” PETScan. It did find a new postop change in the left buttock (from my bypass and transplant surgery in May) simply indicating a new surgical site. One finding I was not expecting was that the radiation damage to my left lung has “decreased significantly since prior study.” This is the area my oncologist wanted to keep an eye on to make sure it healed properly.

Who knew my little body had so much vigor after all these months of treatment!?