Not me this time.
My friend Hannah is spending the day at Manchester Infirmary having a SPECT (stands for Single-Photon-Emission Computed Tomography) bone scan.
At least I think that's the scan. Anyway she has to spend the whole day in the Nuclear Medicine Department. She'll have a radioactive tracer injected and then a long wait of 3-4 hours while the tracer circulates. During this wait she has to be isolated as she will be radioactive - arrgh!
Then the scan itself takes around an hour.of lying very still.
And then another wait til she sees her consultant late afternoon to get the results.
She's had some pain in her pelvic area post surgery, and this is to check it out.
Thinking of you Hannah. Hope there are no bone problems and no suspicious areas.
Edit at 2.30:
Not in the clear yet. Text message to say they found something... or maybe not.. so sent for a CT and then an x-ray.. and still waiting for the results.
Edit at 5.15.
Text message to say she has to stay til 7pm as they need someone more specialist to look at the scans
Edit at 7.00
Diagnosis - it isnt a cancer spread its a bone problem. Phew. An exhausting day leaving her drained and at times losing hope.
ONWARDS AND UPWARDS - a diagnosis and treatment of Hepatocellular carcinoma (primary liver cancer) diagnosed August 2010, presumed caused by 30+ years of chronic hepatitis B. And a search for how to be healthy living with cirrhosis presumed caused by Autoimmune hepatitis (diagnosed April 2011)
Fiona,
ReplyDeleteWhat a long, crazy, emotional roller coaster ride of a day. I hope she sleeps well after all of that. I would think it would be rather disconcerting ... knowing you have something in your body that requires you to be isolated because you are considered radioactive and therefore contaminated and unsafe. I'm glad it is all over and that she got some good news at the end. I hope you get to have a more relaxing and enjoyable weekend.
Carla
She's had a bone problem since early childhood. Not sure why it took the medics all day to recognise it as the problem in her pelvis. Presume they were more concerned about ruling out cancer.
ReplyDeleteNot heard from her today, hope she is feeling better.