Update: John's 6 month PET scan

Yesterday, John had an appointment with Dr. Sunita Nasta, at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania to get the results of the 6 month PET scan to see if his cancer has returned or not.  For those of you new to my blog, you can read John's full story here.  You can also read more of John's story by clicking on the Label, CANCER SUCKS on my sidebar.


** NOTE:  my brother Michael describes a PET scan (positron emission tomography)  as this:  they make you drink nuclear shit and then they x-ray you, similar to a CT scan.  If anything lights up, you probably have cancer.   


Anyway, about 2 weeks ago, John had his semi-annual PET scan done.  We drove to HUP for his appointment.
When he had his appointment in October 2010, Dr. Nasta leaped into the air as she popped into the room, with a big grin on her face and pronounced YOU ARE BETTER THAN EVER!!!  


Not so much this time.


Yesterday, she walked into the room, no smile on her face.  Oh shit.  This isn't good.


She told us that the scan showed 2 very small nodes, less than a centimeter in diameter each.  For those of us Americans who are not metric literate, a centimeter is about 1/3 of an inch. Teeny tiny.  


But they lit up and that's not good.  One in the groin, one in the neck.  They are so small she couldn't even feel them.


She asked if John had been sick recently or had a fever.  Nope.  He has lost about 10 pounds since his last visit.  He does get tired and often falls asleep when he gets home from work at 4 pm.  


So John had 2 choices.  He could get an ultra-sound and she'd then do a biopsy (on a teeny tiny node that she can't feel), or John could get another PET scan in 6 weeks to see if they grew and to also see if they light up again.  He opted to get the PET scan at the end of June (6 weeks will have gone by since his last one) and see her again on July 6.


There is a possibility that the lighting up was a fluke caused by a fever or virus that John wasn't aware of.  Or the scanner in the lab is new and maybe a little "enthusiastic" in his interpretation of the scan.  


So, now John has an appointment on June 28 for his scan and then an appointment on July 6 to get the results.  If the scan shows the nodes are cancerous again, John will have to start yet another round of Chemo.


We went to the Potbelly Sandwich Shop to grab a bite, since John had been fasting all day.  While we were there, we discussed it, calmly.  Again, we are taking a positive approach.  This is another battle in this war called Cancer.  He's not going to let this get him down.  Hopefully, the next test will be a good one and we can relax for a few months again.   If not, well, I guess I'll be driving the Schuylkill Expressway into Center City Philadelphia quite often again.   I think I should get my AAA membership renewed.

OCMD Vacation Day 5

Thursday, September 23, 2010
Sunny, 88 degrees, light breezes

We decided to take a trip to Chincoteague Island, VA on this day.  It's about an hour's drive from the little Housita that we stay in.  


We had breakfast at home and I packed a lunch to take along with us.  Ham and cheese sandwiches and turkey and cheese sandwiches.  I added plums, nectarines (for me) and peaches (for John) and some of the Doritos we've been snacking on all week.  


Our first stop was at NASA Visitor Center at Wallops Island Flight Facility, just outside of Chincoteague.  We weren't allowed inside the real facility, but they had a small museum at the Visitor Center, which was cool!

They've done tons of testing of weather balloons and rockets and stuff here for years and years.  If your'e a science nerd buff, you'd probably get a kick out of this place!  

click the picture to see it larger

I could tell we were getting near the place because I saw a bunch of these:

There were more than a dozen of these dishes all over the place!  

John having some fun!

I didn't take a lot of pictures inside.  They also had several short films about NASA and science stuff, some of which we actually saw at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia.

There were some picnic tables near the parking lot, under trees, so we had our lunch there... and got eaten alive by mosquitoes!  I managed to not get bitten all summer and in 5 minutes I had about 10 bug bites on me!

Then we continued on to Chincoteague!  Chincoteague looks more like a New England fishing village than a beach resort.  I was collecting sand for my sister (she collects sand from all over the world).  Do you know that I couldn't find one single beach on Chincoteague Island? I always thought Chincoteague was below Assateague, MD but it's not,  Chincoteague is in between mainland Maryland and the island of Assateague.   So it's all bay!  Chingoteague is nestled in between Maryland and Maryland.   The only place that actually has a beach is Tom's Cove Beach, which is in Chincoteague National Park, which is located on Assateague Island, in Maryland!  We drove all over that stupid place, looking for a beach so I could get sand for my sister.  By the time we left there, I was so frustrated that I got a bit pissy.  That, in turn put John in a bad mood.  

But before the day went south on us, we had a nice time.  We drove to Chincoteague National Park and found  Assateague Lighthouse.  We couldn't go up to the top  because there was a wasp swarm inside. (darn! I couldn't walk the 198 steps to the top of the lighthouse)  They had pictures for sale of the lighthouse, looking all pretty and shiny, but I kinda like my photo better.  

After the lighthouse (and before the pissing match), we drove around a bit and found Tom's Cove Beach.  It's not a large beach.  As a matter of fact, it's a long narrow beach, only about 20 or 30 feet to the water's edge and you can park your car  within feet of your blanket, just over a small dune.  We only stayed for a minute or two.  I didn't get any photos.  Sorry.

So it was a very quiet ride back to Ocean City.  Neither one of us was in the mood to do anything fun, so we ordered Pizza delivered from Lombardi's and watched  the CSI and The Mentalist premieres.  

What's in store for tomorrow??  Why, it's Sunfest!!!  and John got happy again!


**psst!  I'm wondering who is the person who reads my blog every day from Broken Arrow, OKlahoma.  I'm as curious as my cats!