Wednesday, April 13, 2011

First Post Treatment Scan

I am working on a "mega post" and it may take me awhile so I will at least, prelude it with a smaller, more informational post. Today was Spencer's first post treatment PET scan. The first of many. He will have scans regularly for the next five years before he is considered "cured" or a "survivor". He usually is able to get a contrast injection through his line but because this one was a super duper scan they used a power injector and that has too much pressure to go through his central line, so he had to get an I.V. It totally sucks when this has to happen. He has the dang line so he does not have to be poked so much. He cried and is still complaining of it hurting and I cannot blame him, I really dislike I.V.'s myself. The scan only took about an hour but the whole procedure from I.V. to oral contrast, to end of scan was about 2.5 hours. We have done a PET scan before several times so it was nothing new. I know he will not love me telling this story and if your kids read this blog have them be sensitive. You have to be totally and completely still in the PET scan. The poor kid drank like 500 ml's of contrast before the scan, and even went to the bathroom but had to go so bad during the scan. I could hear him yelling to the techs but they cannot stop the scan and he has anxieties about moving around. He ended up wetting his pants because he didn't want to have to wiggle at all during the scan. He felt so bad. Sweet kid. When he was done they got him a pair of scrubs to wear and put his wet clothes in a plastic bag. It never ends for him. We had a bunch of errands to run so we went by Target to get him some new underwear and pants. I made it up to him by taking him to Cafe Rio for lunch. He kept saying "This is so good I cannot even explain how good it is." I love him. He told me all about his favorite names that he wants to name his children. For boys he loves Nathan (go figure) and Joseph (which is Nate's middle name) and Matthew, and John. He told my dad that he will name one of his son's middles names after him, which is OK (capital O capital K no periods). Don't ask his dad was a drunk and in the military. Named him OK Joe. Better than the alternative, GI Joe. He told me he loves the names Emma, Emily, Ally and Becky for girls. I don't know where he came up with any of these but I love that he thinks about it. He even said "I hope my wife lets me name our son after grandpa." He makes me giggle. He told me over and over that he loves me and thank you for our lunch date. How lucky I am to be his mom. Tomorrow is our meeting with the oncologist to go over his scan results (trying to have ultimate faith but mostly borrowing Spencer's). He keeps saying he is excited for tomorrow because he knows the results will be great. After clear scans then we will make an appointment next week for his central line to come out. This is something I cannot even imagine because it has been in so long and will be the final step to being able to breath again. I will continue to work on the mega blog post and keep you informed on our results tomorrow.

3 comments:

  1. Can't wait to hear the good news! Spencer, Cafe Rio would be at the top of my 'happy place' list if I had one near me. I love you all...

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  2. He is so sweet! Can't wait to see you guys tomorrow.

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  3. Holly, you are so lucky to be his mom. What an amazing kid!!

    Crossing our fingers and toes (and praying) for a great outcome!!

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