Tests, tests and more tests

The way this works is that I have chemo 3 weeks in a row with one week off each month. For every 3 rounds of chemo, I have to meet with Dr. C.  We meet with him on Monday to see how things are going and if the treatment is "working" before I start my August rounds.

Tomorrow I have a long day at Mayo.  It seems that Dr. C. has ordered up a few tests to keep me busy because he probably doesn't think that organizing my house, reading 3 books at once, online shopping and checking my Facebook, twitter and instagram accounts are enough to occupy my day.

Tomorrow begins with an echocardiogram at 8:30am to see how my pericardial effusion is doing. The doctor's report from the last echo showed that the fluid around my heart is actually getting smaller! This was such great news because the last thing I really need is to have a needle stuck into my heart. No thank you, I've got enough going on.

At 9:40 am I get to have a radioactive sucrose pumped through the vein in my foot to prepare my tumors for the PET scan which will light them up like christmas trees if they are still hanging out. They jack me up on this radioactive stuff and then I sit quietly in the dark,  in a small room for an hour waiting for this toxic crap to take over my body. It's kinda relaxing because it's just me and my mind so I think I'll try to meditate. I just learned at Miraval. It's hard.

At 10:40am my PET scan will be started. The test itself only takes a few minutes, it's the prep that takes so long. The actual scan entails laying on a flat bed as it slides you in and out of the machine. Piece of cake. It's the waiting for the results that is so hard and figures it's over a weekend.

Moving along to the chest x-ray at noon -  this is a quick one but they can see different things I guess which is why he wants both.

And lastly, they need to take a shit ton of labs to be able to check my cancer markers, my calcium level and of course all the regular things to be sure that my immune system can handle another treatment and quite honestly it all makes my head spin.

Treating cancer right now for me is a full time job. If I'm not at Mayo getting something poked, infused or scanned, then I'm on the phone trying to get appointments made, changed, prescriptions refilled or lord knows what else.

I'm scared shit of what the results will be. Keep you posted!

TKO365