Living with Cancer

Today I'll list all the tests I had to go through to figure out I have cancer.

First I had the MRI of mid back up. Then I had a bone scan, not a bone density scan.

A bone scan defined by web MD:

A bone scan is a test to help find the cause of your back pain. It can be done to find damage to the bones, find cancer that has spread to the bones, and watch problems such as infection and trauma to the bones. A bone scan can often find a problem days to months earlier than a regular X-ray test.

For a bone scan, a radioactive substance is injected into a vein in your arm. This substance, called a tracer, travels through your bloodstream and into your bones. This could take several hours.

A special camera takes pictures of the tracer in your bones. Areas that absorb little or no amount of tracer appear as dark or "cold" spots. This could show a lack ofblood supply to the bone or certain types of cancer.

Areas of fast bone growth or repair absorb more tracer and show up as bright or "hot" spots in the pictures. Hot spots may point to problems such as arthritis, a tumor, a fracture, or an infection

From this test they found 2 more tumors; one on the top of my leg bone and one on a rib that showed a fracture. The fracture could have been caused by the bone being weakened by the tumor. My oncologist asked if I'd coughed hard. She said she broke 2 ribs just from coughing.

I think it happened trying to lock my bus door at work because I remembered hurting myself one day when trying to do this. I even filled out a form at work about it and that was the area that was injured.

The next test that was done was the CT scan:

A computed tomography (CT) scan uses X-rays to make detailed pictures of structures inside of the body.

During the test, you will lie on a table that is attached to the CT scanner, which is a large doughnut-shaped machine. The CT scanner sends X-rays through the body area being studied. Each rotation of the scanner takes less than a second and provides a picture of a thin slice of the organ or area. All of the pictures are saved as a group on a computer. They also can be printed.

An iodine dye (contrast material) is often used to make structures and organs easier to see on the CT pictures. The dye may be used to check blood flow, find tumors, and look for other problems. The dye can be used in different ways. It may be put in a vein (IV) in your arm, or it may be placed into other parts of your body (such as the rectum or a joint) to see those areas better. For some types of CT scans you drink the dye. CT pictures may be taken before and after the dye is used

This was the test my Dr.'s office called after and told me the radiologist said it didn't look good. He said they found a tumor in the breast and he thought it looked like breast cancer that had spread to the bones.

I thought I would list all the tests but I wanted to say something about these and not bore you with all the information all at once.

The bone scan I had done on a Saturday. I went in at 8a.m. and was injected with the radioactive dye. I had to leave for 3 hours and then return for the test. It wasn't painful, except for the injection and that really wasn't bad. The only problem I had from it was the stuff they injected made me feel weird for a couple of days - you know not myself - nauseous and sort of weak.

The CT scan I had to drink this stuff they tried to make taste like lemonade. I had to drink 2 large glasses, yuk after the 1st 1/2 but still able to get it down. They also did the contrast by IV which again I had the same problem with for a couple of days after, weak, nauseous, not myself. I had to hold my breath for part of the test a few times and that got a little difficult but if you have to do it you can, trust me.

That's enough for today.