Tuesday, April 15, 2008

7th Day of Cancer and a Full Day of Tests...

Where do I even begin? I couldn't sleep last night and my wife had to stay at the office until the wee hours of the morning causing her to be late to the hospital. I was there alone to receive the injection for the bone scan. That was quite an interesting ordeal. The syringe came out in a lead sleeve and then she shot the fluid into the vein of my left arm. My right arm was still sore from yesterday's bleeding at the other doctor's office. I left for a couple of hours to let the radiation set in so they could see my bones during the scan. I had the beginning of my new boring diet during my wait. I had two poached eggs on wheat toast and a small OJ and 6 glasses of water. Oh joy!

I went back to the hospital for the test that was to begin at 11:15 a.m. but one of the machines was down so it caused a back up. Luckily this happened because my wife didn't make it until 12:00 or so. I feel horrible for her having to go through this while at the same time having the pressures of work looming over her. She's trying her best to hang in there with me and often times I get short with her when I shouldn't but I'm trying to hold on myself. So I finally get in to the scan at around 12:30 and they scan away. I feel pretty good since they said when they see something they usually take different angles etc. They just did the one take with me. I made it out at 1:15 which gave me 15 minutes to rush over to the other wing of the hospital a couple of blocks away for my MRI.

Once again, there is a delay. I was scheduled to be in the MRI at 1:30 but I didn't get in until 3:00. That was okay with me though because I honestly needed a break from it all. So I go in at 3:00 and begin the first part. The tech told me that it would be 2 parts so I didn't freak out when they began a new round of scans. After the first, he told me he only saw the 2 tumors inside the prostate and it didn't look like it has broken the capsule but he isn't a doctor. He's been there for around 30 years and has seen a lot he said and so I should feel good. He was truly a nice guy. After the first set of scans, 2 women doctors came in and told me about the 2nd part which I didn't know was going to be any different. It could not have been any more different than it was. First the two doctors were truly beautiful which made it more embarrassing when they had to digitally examine the rectum and prostate. After that they shoved this, what seemed to be the size of a baby, coil up my rectum and then inflated a balloon. Let's just say that I have never felt pain like that before. Then I had to lay on my back for another hour while they took more scans in the MRI. The first session, I had actually fallen asleep a few times but this time it felt like my bowels were about to explode. Finally it ended and when they took it out, it felt like giving birth. I'm still feeling the pain of it all.

I have to wait a couple of days for the results but I'm feeling pretty upbeat right now and even walked by Nike Town and picked up a Livestrong T-Shirt to fight this battle in.

No comments: