We arrived in London for my 11am appointment at 10:55am! That was leaving Windsor at 7am. Upon arrival they took my information and took me in right away. After doing my vitals, testing my sugar, and inserting a line, they took me to a room where the F-FDG isotope was injected. I was then put in a room to relax for one hour while the isotope had a chance to circulate through my body. After an hour, and a nap I must say, I heard a knock on the door, and it was time to go.
I was led to the room with the CT/PET scanner in it and jumped up on the bed and got strapped in. The whole CT/PET procedure once on the table was only twenty minutes. I was told I could sit up once we were done, but to wait while they looked things over. After about ten minutes the technician came back in the room and told me they needed to do another one of just my abdomen area. I had to wait a half hour before they could do it so I waited out in the hall with Brenda.
When the came to get me for the second time, they told me I could have a coffee afterward so Brenda and her brother Chris, who drove for us by the way, headed off to get me a coffee as it was a bit of a walk to get there. They returned shortly after I had finished with the second scan. Ahhhh coffee! at last! Sure could have used one during the nail biting drive to get there. I was told I could leave and that my oncologist would have the results within a week.
I must say it was a much better drive home. We headed back to Windsor after lunch in London. The road home was littered with jack knifed trucks and about twenty or so cars, vans, SUV's in the ditch! Once we got back to Windsor it was straight home and to bed for me I was just too wore out.Upon awaking an hour or so later, I had to make a call to the hospital here in Windsor to check on my mother. She was admitted Thursday night with heart trouble. There was no answer in her room when I called, however a short time later my brother had called to tell me she had been taken down to have an angioplasty procedure done and had just returned to her room but was still "out of it".
Sunday, when my brother and I got up to see her we found the she had, had three stints put in one of the arteries to the heart! Might explain why she was tired all the time. She was in good spirits and doing well, and looking forward to going home soon.
After leaving the hospital with my brother we did some running around and then on the way to bring me home a brake line on his Expedition blew! We were able to nurse it to a friend of his and put it in the garage where we found out that indeed it was the left rear brake line. We left the Expedition there he borrowed his friends car to bring me home.
What I do know is this. PET scan has once again become my pet peeve! You see, a couple of years ago I was on a campaign writing different Government agencies about the tight restrictions put on getting a PET scan in the province of Ontario. At the time I wrote several letters. The agencies I wrote to included, Cancer Care Ontario, the Ontario Hospital Insurance Plan (OHIP), the Ontario Ombudsman, Andre Marin, and Care Imaging. The hoops you have to qualify to jump through to get a PET scan are pretty restrictive, here is the link to PET Scans Ontario and the criteria: https://www.petscansontario.ca/about/
So now that I have my PET out of the way, and awaiting results I will be resuming the letter writing once again with regard to the restrictions on getting a PET scan. After a conversation with one of the technicians working with me in London I have found that most oncologists are reluctant to even order a PET because of all the red tape to get one. The value of a PET has been proven in most every province in Canada with the exception of Ontario. It is also the standard in the U.S.! So lots of writing it will be. Besides with the black cloud that is following me and all that has gone wrong, I need the distraction of writing, which is what this blog is for as well, but I'm on system overload right now.
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