Mmmm... Barrium

Kevin here with info on the PET and CT scans.

Well, the PET scan and CT scan are done. Fortunately, they weren't as bad as I thought, but I'll have to admit, barrium does not taste good.

The procedure started with a technician giving me a shot of a radio active "tracer" for the PET scan, then bringing me a big bottle of barrium to drink for the CT scan. He said I needed to drink as much as I could before the scan started. Well, that was about half of the bottle and luckily that was enough. After that, I changed into a hospital gown for the scan.

The technician who was doing the scan brought me into the room with the scanner and started explaining how things would work. I asked if I could use the restroom first, and while I was in there, I kept thinking, "man, that guy looks and sounds familiar." I go back to the room and say, "What's your name?" He replies, "Salvatore."

"Sal!" I say. "I'm Kevin, from NYC HOG! (for those who don't know, HOG stands for Harley Owners Group, and is a group of people that I ride with)" It takes a second before he recognizes me, then pulls out a picture of a few of us HOG members at a ride last year. I filled him in on my situation and he told me about how during the spring he was in an accident and took 10 weeks to get his bike fixed. Then 3 months later, someone stole it. He also told me about his new bike (Harley Road King). Got to admit, made me kinda jealous.

The scans took a couple of hours and I must admit was very relaxing. Even almost fell asleep, that is until the motor that moved the bed started up. That stupid motor kept me from dozing off cuz it started every 5 mins. :-(

Anyway, the scans were completed, and Roni and I had to run across town for an appointment with my ostomy nurse. I have been having problems with my ileostomy and asked her for advice and if we could try a different product than the one she sent me home with. She finally did give me a new type of bag to use, which so far is OK, but I will still be glad when I get this reversed and don't have it any longer.

The nurse also kept commenting on how well I looked, and said that when I was in the hospital, she was told about everything that was wrong with me, and thought to herself that she didn't want me as a patient because it would be too depressing. I guess she thought I didn't have that much of a change of making it, or coming out of it healthy as I am. I realized that I am too ornery to die as long as I have something to complain about. And believe me, when you are in hospital with an ileostomy, you have ALOT to complain about. :-)

Some other news, I have an appointment with a nutritionist next Tuesday. We need to find a good diet for me to be on which takes into account the cancer and ileostomy.

Next week, we need to start getting copies of my records to send to Dr. Sugarbaker in DC. If he does decide to take me on as a patient, I hope the surgery is done sooner than later. One, so I can get it out of the way, and get rid of the cancer, and two, chances are good that they will reverse the ileostomy at the same time. That would mean that when I leave the hospital from that surgery, I will be cancer free and ileostomy free. Life couldn't get much better than that right now. For those who want to know how to pray, that would be a good way.

Well, that's about all the news for now. We'll post more as we get it.

Thank you all again for everything.

Kevin