Jimmy had his PET scan today at Kettering Medical Center. For those of you blessed enough to not be in the know, it's a huge nuclear imaging machine that scans his entire body, every organ, to see if cancer is in any other part of the body. Jimmy was injected with a mixture of a sugar solution and a radioactive substance (tracer) that moves through his body to show cancerous areas. It concentrates in an area where there is cancer and shows up on the scan. Because of the way the tracer concentrates in active areas, Jimmy had to sit in a recliner in a dark room for an hour waiting for the tracer to distribute throughout his body. After which, they took him to the scan room where he had to lie on a table and have scans done for an hour, 7 sections about 4-5 min each, plus CT scans sporadically. I was allowed to sit in the room, behind his head while this was being done and talk to him since confined spaces make him uncomfortable.
This is what I was watching: Jimmy laying on a table wrapped in a blanket, arms above his head, unable to move, while he moved inside a huge machine that had lasers all over him to point out where it scanned. At one point, they were scanning his brain and there were red lasers all over his head and face. This is not an image that I can see of my child and not have a reaction. It was awful to see him in such a vulnerable place.
We FINALLY get all the results from pathology and from the PET scan on Monday afternoon when we have our appt with the oncologist. At that appt, we will schedule the surgery to have his port put in and bone marrow testing done. If all that happens on time, he will start chemotherapy on Friday. Please continue to be in prayer for Jimmy, I have a strong gut feeling, (mom feeling), that when he goes for his first chemo appt, that is when it's going to become real and hit him. I'm pretty sure it will happen for me when he has surgery, then his first chemo.
Praying for both of you as you wait through yet another weekend.
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