All about Thursday's PET scan

For my two other PET scans I asked a couple of questions – enough to understand the basics. But this time I am a little more curious about how it all works. So, I did a little research and here is what I have found out:

PET stands for Positron Emission Tomography. A PET scan uses small amounts of radioactive materials called radiotracers, a special camera and a computer to help evaluate organ and tissue functions. A PET scan can identify body changes at the cellular level.

Positron emission tomography is a type of nuclear medicine imaging.

Nuclear medicine is a branch of medical imaging that uses small amounts of radioactive material to diagnose and determine the severity of a variety of diseases, including many types of cancers, heart disease, and other abnormalities within the body. Because nuclear medicine procedures are able to pinpoint molecular activity within the body, they offer the potential to identify disease in its earliest stages.

Nuclear medicine imaging procedures are noninvasive and, with the exception of intravenous injections, are usually painless medical tests.

Depending on the type of nuclear medicine exam, the radiotracers are either injected into the body, swallowed or inhaled as a gas and eventually accumulates in the organ or area of the body being examined. Radioactive emissions from the radiotracers are detected by a special camera or imaging device that produces pictures and provides molecular information,

A PET scan measures important body functions, such as blood flow, oxygen use, and sugar (glucose) metabolism. Cancers thrive on sugar and in a PET scan the injected glucose gathers in the cancerous spot and lights up.

This is a PET scan image, not mine, that shows a significant cancer in the chest. 

My PET scan is being done to determine whether my cancer has spread to other parts of my body or see if my lung cancer has returned after treatment.

Cancer is a complex disease and occurs when cells in the body begin to grow chaotically. Normally, cells grow, divide, and produce more cells to keep the body healthy and functioning properly. Sometimes, however, the process goes astray; cells keep dividing when new cells are not needed. The mass of extra cells forms a growth or tumor. The sooner the tumor is found, the better the survival rate and Pet scans are valuable tools in that endeavor.

My Pet scan is Thursday morning at 7:30. Cross your fingers for darkness; we want no pretty colored lights in this old body of mine!

The Definitive Guide to Cancer

After my July appointment with Dr. Lu I was pretty depressed. after all I'd been through I was really hoping he'd say "It's all gone and it will never come back". That of course did not happen. But my dear friend Shawna reminded me that there are people like Chuck Watson who help themselves and live way longer than the doctors ever predicted. I FULLY INTEND TO BE ONE OF THOSE PEOPLE.
So... I've been read like crazy. And implementing the things that make sense to me. This book

is a wonderful book. It is written by 2 doctors who had cancer and have achieved long term survival.
It deals with a lot of science, but they've managed to make most of it very understandable.
When I started chemo Dr. Lu did a terrific job of educating us on foods to eat and foods to avoid to help ease the side affects and boost the chemo results.This book does a lot of that, but bit looks at how to prevent cancer, how to treat it, and what you can do to help stop it from spreading.
Mark and I have eaten healthier since I was diagnosed but now we often evaluate our meal by how colorful it is; green salad, tomatoes, cantelope, and steak make for a colorful meal and that's what we strive for. Lots of fruits and vegetables and especially green leafy vegetables.That is from the book.
We exercise (I am limitted to my treadmill for now because of the smoke) and plenty of rest. I also take a bunch of supplements (vitamins D and C, COQ-10, tumeric, melatonin, and a multivitamin with selenium). I would recommend this book for anyone at any stage of cancer- even if you do not have it and want to prevent that from happening.

A second book I read was by Kris Carr, also a cancer survivor. She's a little out there (retail therapy is still therapy she says). I would not give the book to a man or to my mother to read.  It is titled Crazy Sexy Cancer Tips. If you are thinking of getting it would preview it before I bought it.It did have some good things in it like remember to be grateful and to express your appreciation, don't keep it to yourself. And find something artsy to do to get your mind and heart back into seeing and creating beauty in your life.  Hence, many of you are getting things I am making because it really does feel therapeutic and good for me. It rachets up my positivity, which we ll know is important for healing.

So, I am so grateful for my friends and colleques. For people this last week who hugged me, smiled at me, told me how glad they were to see me again. You are good medicine and I thank you all!!