It has been almost 4 weeks now since I had an isotope bone scan on the instruction of my surgeon. Not the best experience, the injection with radioactive material was no problem, she sprayed my hand with something to numb it first, not that it did much good as my veins are so bad they still had three attempts to find a vein and in the end they had to move from the back of my hand to my arm, just inside my elbow, in an attempt to find the vein, so I was black and blue for days. The back of my hand was completely black, the vein having blown when she tried to access it. I am used to it, having had so much chemotherapy and then herceptin its a wonder she got a vein at all.
I then had 2 hours to wait until the radioactive material had gone round my body and into my bones, I also had to drink 2 litres of water which was not easy in 2 hours, its a lot of water! I was really worried that I would need to use the toilet whilst lying on the scan table so I made the radiologist aware of my concerns and she said they would give me a break inbetween the two scans I needed if I had to "go".
The table was not very comfortable, not very wide with a dip down the centre and hard. Lying on my back is not the easiest thing for me to do, my legs go numb and I lay there worrying whether I would be able to get up again. The first scan took just about 20 minutes but I was lying on the table for about 25 to 30 minutes as they had to set up first. I had my arms at my side, tied to me by a large strap across my middle. My feet were tied together to keep my legs straight and stop me moving. The bed moved towards the equipment and the huge cameras whirred their way towards my head. They were very close, I had to shut my eyes as I am claustrophobic. I had been told that the camera would be over my face for only about 5 minutes. Its very difficult to estimate 5 minutes when you are lying in that position with your eyes shut! I opened one eye to see if the camera had gone past and shut it quickly when I realised it was just inches from my face. Once the cameras had started to move slowly down my body I felt a little better but by then my back was painful and my legs starting to go numb. I willed myself to lie still until the machine finished its job and a voice said it was all over, but to lie still for a moment until they came. The lady came over and I asked if I could sit up for a moment to ease the pain in my back and legs. I had a bit of a problem sitting up from that position but just about managed it. I rubbed my legs, trying to get the feeling back. They hurt when the feeling starts to return.
I then had to have another scan, this time the cameras were concentrating on my spine and moved slowly around my body so they could get 3D pictures. My head was free so I could look at the computer and see my own skeleton! A strange experience. The second part of the scan took another 20 minutes but again I was lying on the table for a little longer while the cameras set up. By the end of the second scan I had no feeling in my legs and my back was screaming in pain. It took 3 attempts for me to sit myself up, then I had to wait, rubbing my legs for a few moments until I could swing sideways and slowly get my feet to the floor. I asked the lady to pass my stick and I made my way unsteadily to the waiting room where Graham was waiting for me. He started to rise when he saw me but I indicated that I needed a few minutes to sit before I would be able to walk out of the building. I would not want to go through that again. I had no side effects, as they said, from the radioactive injection, I did drink a lot to make sure it was out of my body.
As I have not, as yet, had any results after 4 weeks I am assuming that there are no nasty surprises waiting for me, just the thought freaks me out of what they could have found. Hopefully no news is good news, it would be nice to have a letter just to say "all we found was your arthritis"!
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