Cancer Screening News

Those of you who have been following along on my saga know that yesterday I had to go back to Lacrosse for a PET scan.  It’s a scan that is done when they suspect a person might have cancer but don’t know where or how much cancer there is.  I was diagnosed with thyroid cancer two years ago and we thought everything would be good once we got through the initial few months but that’s not really the case.  I go back every six months and every other visit involves a two week diet, then a week of shots, pills and a scan.  That scan is different than the one I did yesterday.

Last week my numbers didn’t come back as my doctor had hoped.  They weren’t terrible but they were inching up…so she recommended the PET scan.

I’ll admit to being a little more nervous for this scan.  If this scan came back showing cancer, that means would it have returned and spread and we’d be dealing with a new monster.

It’s hard to be a patient going through this.  All sorts of feelings and thoughts raced through my mind.
-what if I do have cancer?  Could we make the house payment with only Hubby’s income?
-would I have to quit childcare?  could I ever get back to childcare if I did?
-how can we handle the trips back and forth for treatment?
-will there be chemo?  Will my hair be lost?
-how crazy would all this make me?

But the hardest part of all is feeling like if the scan came back bad, I would have let every down.  I would be the one that caused the stress to others.  I would be the one that made people cry.  I would be the one that caused the inconvenience.  To those that know me, I would hate to be in that position.

As we drove, Hubby and I were talking!  After dwelling on this for a week waiting for the scan date, so many things get said.  Thankfully he’s awesome for me.  He lets me say whatever and has gotten to the point that he even jokes about it.  What else is there to do?

Then in between the jokes something serious would be said….like I said, what else is there to do.

I had looked up on the internet about PET scans so was telling Hubby what I learned about them via Google….Apparently I’d get injected with something via IV.  Then I would have to sit in a room relaxing for an amount of time and then the scan.  That is exactly what happened.

After the injection I had to lay in a recliner with a warm blanket on in a room where the lights were dimmed.  I was told to lay there and relax letting the stuff in the injection move around where it needed to go.  You can imagine how hard that is….In a short period of time I might be told I have cancer again..but relax…ugh.  I actually did better at it than I thought.

From there I went down to the scan room.  I was to lay on a very narrow “bed”.  The tech wanted me to put my arms over my head but with my shoulder injury (although it’s feeling great) I didn’t know if I could do that and hold completely still.  She ended up having me tuck my hands under my butt cheeks.  I was told not to move, not even my fingers….or it could ruin the scan.  They banded my feet together to prevent movement.  The scan took about 45 minutes.  The entire time, no movement.  It’s definitely brain work and mind over matter.  No itching.  If your hands “fall asleep”…do nothing.

From there we headed home.  We stopped for some gas station food and headed back towards Decorah.  It was all town garage sales and we decided to hit a couple up.

We just pulled into town when I got a call from my doctor….this is what she said….My scan was clean.  No cancer.

Yahoo…I couldn’t have been happier.  I messaged the kids and a few other people…what a relief.  Then slowly the kids started calling and checking up with me.  I think Kayla said it best and this is how we all felt.  “I didn’t know I was that worried about the scan until I saw the message that the scan was clear….then I started crying.”

A blog reader left a message that said she suggested we look at cancer as a chronic illness that never completely goes away.  Hubby and I talked about that.  We get so busy with life that it’s easy to forget about it all until a scan date comes along…then we’re all worried about it again.  I think somewhere in the mix is the right attitude.  I love that I can forget it about in between tests…but I have to remember that the test can happen without quite as much hoopla and worry even if it is bad, there are much worse things.

I am incredibly happy all is okay for now.  Thanks everyone for your well wishes.

So Hubby and I happily thrifted and garage saled before we headed home.  But here’s a picture of what I found.  YARN for Kayla.  LOOK AT IT ALL!!  I hit up two thrift stores and ended up with ALL OF THIS!!  I think total spent was about $40.  Both of the knitting baskets are full of yarn too.  WOW.  I’ve never had this kind of luck with yarn.

Some of you might not know…Our daughter Kayla is a champion crochet and knitter.  She makes the most beautiful afghans with cheap thrifted yarn.

Check a couple of them out here…. Here citrus one….

…and her ABC one.

It’s all scraps that she finds at thrift stores.

Kayla has been blogging now regularly.  She shares a lot of the projects she is working on…You can find more about these afghans and other things by following this link to her blog.

I’m suppose to be meeting up with her today and I’m delivering the yarn….I didn’t tell her that I found it all so hopefully she doesn’t read the blog before she heads out to meet us.  I think she’s going to be shocked.  She’s challenged herself to knit/crochet all year on thrifted yarn.  She’s made it so far except she did have a gift certificate from last year that she used to buy some white yarn.  Most of what she makes she donates.  That makes it all even more cool.

Here is a link to more of Kayla’s work….and another.

Truly, she makes the best scrappy projects.

Our thrifting didn’t end up so good except for the yarn.  I think Hubby only bought one thing!!

Once home we unloaded groceries…then Hubby said, “How about I cook tonight?”  At our house that means going out for supper.  So we used a gift certificate one of my childcare families gave us for Christmas and we went out for supper.

It was a day to celebrate!  I’m so glad we got good news.  My doctor did tell me that she wants me back in 3 months to check my blood work again.  I’ve been bumped up to every 3 months rather than the 6 month checks.  That’s okay.  I’d rather be cautious.

So that’s the report…..again, thank you for the kind notes and messages.  I truly appreciate it.  Yesterday was a good day and I’m eagerly looking forward to today!!