Well, the
bone scan is done....I don't know what the hell I was worried about.
Honestly - that was probably the easier of the tests I've had to
do.
Forgive me for the scattered, rushed manner of this post. I'm tired, and I just wanted to update this here before I forget. :)
This morning, I woke up and, honestly, felt really good. Yes, I had pain. But it was manageable, and I was distracted by getting the kids ready for school, getting myself ready for the day, and getting out of the house on time. That may have helped me. LOL!
We got the kids to school, after surprising them with some Valentine's Day decorations and gifts, and then headed down to CTCA. Levi was able to go with me, which was especially good because I was worried about the meds they may give me to mitigate the pain during and after the bone scan.
The nurse assessment of the bone scan was pretty standard, and very quick. After some back and forth about the blood work, we moved forward with the injection for the bone scan. Basically, the back and forth about labs was my doing....they were going to pull the blood for standard labs (CEA, CBC, etc.), and I asked them to hold off until Monday. If I know they pulled the labs today, I would be constantly thinking about the results, which I can see online. And, if I knew they were there, I was going to look and (potentially) freak me out. So, in my continuing quest for blissful ignorance, I asked them to hold off until Monday. I totally understand this is denial, but it's MY decision, and it's MY denial. :)
Anyways, they injected me with the radioactive bone stuff, and Levi and I had to figure out how to occupy ourselves for three hours. Well, we started out with brunch - yum! - and then took a walk out to the farm behind the hospital to take a look.
Because today was Valentine's Day, the hospital had some events going on to celebrate, so we took part in those. It was definitely fun, and I was glad to finally be able to share some of this with Levi. My back started to bother me around noon, so I took some Advil, and hoped for the best.
The tech came out at 12:30 and took me back. I was anxious, nauseous (from nerves), and just completely overwhelmed. Luckily, my amazing wonderful fabulous care team was already ahead of the game, and had placed an order for low-dose IV Ativan (one of the nausea drugs that I don't react badly to, that also helps calm me down), if I needed it.
I did.
It helped me calm down, helped ease my nerves, and allowed me to relax enough that my back didn't bother me as I was laying on the (very uncomfortable) table until the test was almost done. This was wonderful, and really made the test that much more tolerable.
After the many, many scans were done, I headed out and went to chiro. After a brief appointment with him, Levi and I headed home to get the kids and relax for the rest of the night.
All in all, it was a fairly uneventful day, which was really, really nice.
I did ask more about the bone scan, to understand what they were doing, what they were looking for, etc. Here's what I found out.
What I was is known as a nuclear med bone scan. The injection that they use is a radioactive material that is taken up by the body, and (after the three hour waiting period), will also be taken up by the bones. When they do the bone scan, the bones will show uptake normally. Areas that show a greater amount of uptake indicate a concern, which could be infection, cancer, a break or bruise in the bone, etc.
Here is some information I found online about the bone scan. All I can say is that I was totally worried and anxious and concerned and freaked out about what might have been the easiest test I've gone through in the past five years. I'll take it.
I'm off to bed. I've had a good day, pain-wise, and I'm happy about that. I'm hoping that tonight is an easy night, and that I have a few more good days ahead until the next bad one. I'm learning to take it day by day, and to take the good with the bad. There's a lesson here, I'm sure of it. But, I'm too tired to try to parse it out in words, so we'll make that another post.
Until then.....sweet dreams, my army.
Forgive me for the scattered, rushed manner of this post. I'm tired, and I just wanted to update this here before I forget. :)
This morning, I woke up and, honestly, felt really good. Yes, I had pain. But it was manageable, and I was distracted by getting the kids ready for school, getting myself ready for the day, and getting out of the house on time. That may have helped me. LOL!
We got the kids to school, after surprising them with some Valentine's Day decorations and gifts, and then headed down to CTCA. Levi was able to go with me, which was especially good because I was worried about the meds they may give me to mitigate the pain during and after the bone scan.
The nurse assessment of the bone scan was pretty standard, and very quick. After some back and forth about the blood work, we moved forward with the injection for the bone scan. Basically, the back and forth about labs was my doing....they were going to pull the blood for standard labs (CEA, CBC, etc.), and I asked them to hold off until Monday. If I know they pulled the labs today, I would be constantly thinking about the results, which I can see online. And, if I knew they were there, I was going to look and (potentially) freak me out. So, in my continuing quest for blissful ignorance, I asked them to hold off until Monday. I totally understand this is denial, but it's MY decision, and it's MY denial. :)
Anyways, they injected me with the radioactive bone stuff, and Levi and I had to figure out how to occupy ourselves for three hours. Well, we started out with brunch - yum! - and then took a walk out to the farm behind the hospital to take a look.
Because today was Valentine's Day, the hospital had some events going on to celebrate, so we took part in those. It was definitely fun, and I was glad to finally be able to share some of this with Levi. My back started to bother me around noon, so I took some Advil, and hoped for the best.
The tech came out at 12:30 and took me back. I was anxious, nauseous (from nerves), and just completely overwhelmed. Luckily, my amazing wonderful fabulous care team was already ahead of the game, and had placed an order for low-dose IV Ativan (one of the nausea drugs that I don't react badly to, that also helps calm me down), if I needed it.
I did.
It helped me calm down, helped ease my nerves, and allowed me to relax enough that my back didn't bother me as I was laying on the (very uncomfortable) table until the test was almost done. This was wonderful, and really made the test that much more tolerable.
After the many, many scans were done, I headed out and went to chiro. After a brief appointment with him, Levi and I headed home to get the kids and relax for the rest of the night.
All in all, it was a fairly uneventful day, which was really, really nice.
I did ask more about the bone scan, to understand what they were doing, what they were looking for, etc. Here's what I found out.
What I was is known as a nuclear med bone scan. The injection that they use is a radioactive material that is taken up by the body, and (after the three hour waiting period), will also be taken up by the bones. When they do the bone scan, the bones will show uptake normally. Areas that show a greater amount of uptake indicate a concern, which could be infection, cancer, a break or bruise in the bone, etc.
Here is some information I found online about the bone scan. All I can say is that I was totally worried and anxious and concerned and freaked out about what might have been the easiest test I've gone through in the past five years. I'll take it.
I'm off to bed. I've had a good day, pain-wise, and I'm happy about that. I'm hoping that tonight is an easy night, and that I have a few more good days ahead until the next bad one. I'm learning to take it day by day, and to take the good with the bad. There's a lesson here, I'm sure of it. But, I'm too tired to try to parse it out in words, so we'll make that another post.
Until then.....sweet dreams, my army.
Comments:
Carol
Pack Urban said...
I
am so very glad that your day was a good one and that pain was manageable!
<3 God bless you, hon.
February
15, 2013 at 6:50 PM
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