We are going in this morning for a CT Scan!

We probably won’t hear anything about the results until we next meet with the oncologist on Wednesday, but we are really excited to have this test done. This will be the first time that we will get an idea for how I am responding to chemotherapy. Though all signs point to the fact that I am responding well, it will be (hopefully) a great relief to see some empirical evidence. I’m hoping for news along the lines of : “the tumor in your chest has shrunk to X size and the tumor on your spine is gone!” That would be nice.

Going in this morning is such a contrast to the last time I had a CT Scan. It was the morning of September 14th, the day after my first doctor’s appointment. I was scared and was frankly in shock. I remember I had put on a brave face, but when it was over I broke down a bit and cried. The test is simple, but it was just the idea of it. I was sitting there in hospital gowns, I had just received an IV for the first time, and was completely out of my element. And what was worse, I realized that it was about to become normal. That at some point it wouldn’t seem so strange and foreign anymore, and that scared me even more, as it meant that I was sick and that this was really happening. Well my fear has pretty much come to fruition, procedures are now commonplace and I find that I’m very comfortable around hospitals and doctors offices now (these are my people!)

The test is scheduled for 8:30 but we have to check-in at 7am so I can start drinking the contrast solution. I’m not so much looking forward to that part. If memory serves that stuff is pretty gross,  and I’ll have to drink quite a bit of it. If it’s a repeat performance of the last time, I’ll spend an hour and half choking down the contrast solution so they can see my bowels. They’ll take some scans of that, and then they’ll inject the contrast solution into my veins and take additional pictures. We’ll be out of there by 9.

So, CT Scan today and then as I understand it I’ll be going in for a PT (or PET) Scan before the next time we see the oncologist in early January, again as a “check-up” of sorts.

Fingers crossed that these tests will yield some encouraging results in the coming week.