PET Scan Adventure

Thursday was PET scan day for me.  Remember the insurance preauthorization thing that was going to take until October 2nd.  Well the clinic called me the next day and said I was approved.  This is one of the many reasons it’s important to advocate for yourself.  If I hadn’t I would be waiting until then for this to get moving along.  In reality, it was approved in less than 24 hours.

The family has been juggling schedules to try to help out but with one member of the team, Kramer, gone, it’s a little bit harder.  Kelli ended up finishing up childcare and I went to my appointment myself.

I seem to take a bit of Kramer with me though…checking crops.  Yep, the soybeans are turning color.  They are heading towards getting ready for harvest.


The good news is that I’ve been through all of this a time or two myself..and a time or two with Kramer so the scary part of this go around  isn’t as scary.  I at least know what to expect.  It is pretty sad though.  I find myself saying…”the last time I was here was with Kramer” or “Ugh, back to the East building (which is the cancer center)”.  I’m doing it though and trying really hard to do it with as much grace as possible.

I had a 1:15 appointment and went back right away.  If you haven’t had a PET scan, it’s kind of a weird thing.  They inject a sugary substance into your vein and then you have have to lay in a recliner in a dark room for an hour.  Then you get the scan.  The stress while you’re laying there to relax and let the stuff they injected to work it’s way around your body.  It’s not easy to “relax” with thoughts of cancer running through your head.  Trust me.  This is my third PET scan.

Once you get to the machine they lay you down, then strap you down.  They pack you tight.  It almost feels like you’re a mummy.  A strap goes around your belly and around your feet.  Then in the machine, which is like a tunnel, you go.  After I was in the machine for about a half hour, I was out and on my way.

If you’re ever going for one, a word to the wise is wear elastic waist pants or you might end up laying in the machine with your pants at your knees.  That also was the strangest feeling.

After the scan I headed towards home.  You might remember this is just under a 2 hour drive.  I knew the drive home might be interesting as we were predicted to have strong storms in the afternoon.  There was suppose to be torrential rain.

For the PET scan I had to eat a high protein low carb diet the day before and then no food for six hours before the test.  So I was up at 6am and ate something so by the time the test was over, I was hungry and needed gas so I stopped.  I went in my purse to get my debit card and look what I found…. …

My Weekend

I had a fabulous weekend.  When I was getting groceries on Saturday the guy who was taking my groceries out asked, “Do you have plans for the weekend?”  The tone he had was a little bit of an assumption of sadness if I didn’t.  I happily said “NO…No plans at all and I couldn’t be happier!”  I so needed a no plans weekend….some time to catch up do a little on nothing..and a little of something all in a weekend.  I had no commitments to anyone or anything.  In my busy life a day or two like that is PERFECT!!

My fun actually started on Friday.  I had a smaller group of kiddos for childcare which was good as Connie stopped by….

I remembered to take a picture but it was a horrible one!!  The sun was in our eyes!!  I did get a nice one of Connie.
She was stopping on the way to her daughter’s house.  I’m a nice stop in between.  The other Friday news…. my furniture FINALLY came.  (more on that in another post)

I didn’t want to spend all of my weekend shopping and there were a few things I wanted in a “bigger” town so I made plans to go to Waterloo after childcare.  I told Kelli about it and she asked if I minded if her and Georgie came with.  Not a bit did I mind.  I did warn her that it might end up being a late night though, and it was.

First we hit up Hobby Lobby and then it was onto the At Home store.  Georgie was perfect…not a single squeak!!

You might remember that book, “Everything I needed to learn, I learned in Kindergarten”….well Kelli and I decided that Hobby Lobby and At Home had some pretty good advice on living life….like this sign in the Fall section….

Kelli loved the sign below.

I took this sign to heart.  I sure am trying to grow through this all!!

This one was a little too close to home for me.  Kramer used to tease me about all the things he “taught” me…how to drink beer…how to drive a stick…how to run a sander…how to do all the fix it jobs…
I wiped a tear, turned around and saw this sign.  Bahahaha.  I was time to be happy.

This one made me pause and think.  I couldn’t help but think of Kramer’s sister’s family.  Their daughter who is the same age as our Kalissa found out she has Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma and they are starting their personal journey through cancer.  
May healing be possible for her!

Another good one…


Then there was this sign… …

Saturday with Kelli and Georgia

On Saturday I had nothing that I had to do.  None of our kids were at our house.  I woke up and for the most part it felt like Saturdays of my past…a whole do to do my choosing.  I can’t tell you the last day I had like that.  It felt like a luxury.

There was an auction I could go to….there was a house I could clean…there was yard work I could do…there were blog posts I could write.  But what did I do?  I called Kelli and asked if she had some bottles Kalissa could try out with Gannon and she did.  I new before Georgia was born, she would go to garage sales and buy bottles in new packaging just in case Georgia hated the bottles she had.  Well Georgia never used the bottles so I thought I could get the bottle from Kelli and Gannon could try them out.

West Union is the closest place to meet…and the Backstitch in Elkader is only a little further down the road.  If you don’t know, the Backstitch is a cross stitch and quilt shop in Elkader.  I was on a mission to get a few threads so I could start one of the projects that I had bought when we went to Osage a few weeks ago.  Kelli was looking for thread too.  You might remember she bought cloth in Osage at the Stitchery Nock…now she needed thread.

I’ve seen lots of Kelli as she’s been such a help with covering childcare so I can take Kramer to his cancer treatments.  But most of the time, she’s been here..I’ve been gone.  We needed a fun day…and we got it.

This piece is so tempting.  I’ve seen it online.  To see it in person is even better.  WOW.  I was so tempted but I didn’t get it.  I have enough to stitch.


Kelli loved these but she resisted temptation too.


The Tom Turkey Sampler was one I liked and I have it on my list to possibly get but I’m holding myself to finishing something before I buy something.


Little Miss Georgia was with…. …

A Kramer Family Update

Here’s the Kramer update
Monday-I took off childcare and drove Kramer to his appointment. Chemo and radiation all went well.  He was feeling good.

Tuesday-Our friend drove to radiation.  He went to working the morning for a few hours.  He has an oxygen pack.  It had four hours of charge to it.  I’m thankful for only 4 hours as it makes it hard for him to work any longer than that.  We started oxygen overnight now too as he has been waking up with headaches.

The rest of the week he has some farmer friends driving him so I have a break.

The Gannon report…This comes directly from Kalissa:
Well this isn’t where I expected to be. It is a long story but I’m here now.

I’m going to start with the good news:
Gannon does not have Hirschsprung’s disease.

Gannon is doing much better. This morning they came in and clamped his NG tube and stopped his IV fluids to see how he would do. He is tolerating both well.

Another piece of good news is we should be going home in the morning.

Now I’ll tell you the okay news:

They *suspect* Gannon is allergic to milk protein. Gannon has been in a trial of Alementum milk replacement while he is here and it’s has been going well. This is a very expensive fancy hypoallergenic formula.

This means I either have to completely cut dairy and soy from my diet – no exceptions – to breastfeed him or I have to be done breastfeeding. This absolutely and completely breaks my heart. I’m not quite ready to talk about how much that upsets me.

Gannon does have some abnormal anatomy towards the end of his digestive tract which they *suspect* in combination with the *possible* milk protein allergy caused his problems. This can be treated with simple dilation.

Do you notice how many *maybes* are involved in all of these *possible* diagnoses?

I’m frustrated. I’m sad. I wanted a definitive answer. I didn’t want thousands of dollars workup to be told to switch to formula. I don’t want to quit breastfeeding.

I’m thankful Gannon is feeling better. I’m thankful we will be able to go home. I’m thankful it was nothing serious.

Mixed emotions here tonight. We will continue the trial of Allimentum through the night and make sure he tolerates feedings. We will likely head home in the morning. Supposedly he is fixed. Supposedly he will be fine but my mom gut still isn’t all the way convinced. Stay tuned.”

I am not super confident about the diagnosis.  I think Kalissa will be taking one blog reader’s advice to have the chiropractor have a look at Gannon.  We have a great chiropractor and she’s reasonably priced so why not?!  I just feel like the doctor’s never saw him when he was screaming and obviously in pain.  They didn’t see those grossly obtuse belly moments.  Oh well, we will try this and hopefully it will be the trick…I’m also a believer that prayer is playing a part in him feeling better.  Time will tell.  I just can’t wait for him to be home.

As for me personally….

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