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focal invasive squamus cell carcinoma 2mm in depth
i have a pet scan this coming tues and im just so ughhh. Does anyone else have this diagnosis as i dont know the stage til after PET SCAN ? I already went to my onco ..i was diagnosed IDC BC in late 2019. The worst part is waiting and not knowing much . Can anyone give me any tips or what i can kinda expect . Thank you for being here . Im a single mamma to five cool kids .
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@myfiveloves If I've calculated the days accurately your PET scan is scheduled for today. Is that right? Knowing that you are going in for this scan when you've been diagnosed with cancer is very unsettling and scary. All these thoughts of what will they find on the scan and whether the cancer has spread anywhere else is what I went through when I had a PET Scan in October, 2021. I had a PET/MR Scan and so my scan was performed in an MRI scanner. I'm thinking that your scan could be different depending on whether you are having a PET/CT or PET/MR. Since I am claustrophobic and the MRI is a long tube you are slid into head first I asked my doctor ahead of time for medication. They gave me Ativan.
Before the scan started I was taken to a room with a comfortable chair where I sat and a radioactive drug was administered IV. The radioactive drug is the tracer that is used for the PET and it washes out of your system. You aren't "radioactive" by the way and by the time you are finishes much of the radioactive tracer is gone from your system. I didn't feel much of anything from the drug and was asked to sit quietly for about 30 minutes. I did a mindfulness practice during those 30 minutes to help me to allow me to focus my energy on my breath and let the thoughts go. By then, the Ativan was also working so that helped me a lot and so I felt more relaxed when they came to get me for the scan.
Here is some information from Mayo Clinic on PET Scans and why they are ordered.
Positron Emission Tomography Scan
-- https://www.mayoclinic.org/tests-procedures/pet-scan/about/pac-20385078
My scan lasted about 45 minutes. I think. I don't really remember the length of time I was in the scanner. I do know that I was scanned head to pelvis and so there were images from brain all the way to my lower pelvis. I had a recurrence of endometrial cancer (uterine cancer) so yes, they were looking to see if the cancer had spread. Fortunately for me, the scan showed no evidence of disease.
You will be in thoughts today. Will you come back here and let me know how your scan went? How are you feeling this morning?