The PET Scan
The PET scan was scheduled for 0830 on 13 January 2009 at QLD PET Services at the Royal Brisbane Hospital.
The positron emission tomography (PET) scan is a specific type of imaging test that can help doctors see how tissue and organs are functioning. PET scans do not show structural details of organs, it shows images which provide information about chemical activity within certain organs and tissues. This chemical activity may indicate areas of disease not detected by other scanning methods.
PET scanning is useful in identifying and / or evaluating a variety of conditions, including neurological disease, heart disease, infections, certain inflammatory diseases and cancer. A PET scan is a special form of nuclear (radionuclide) scanning.
The process involves the injection into the bloodstream of a mixture comprising glucose (blood sugar) and a radioactive substance (radiotracer). This allows the scanner to image which areas of your body are using more glucose. As was explained to me in terms I could understand, cancer cells love sugar and gobble them up while at the same time gobbling up the radiotracer, these areas then appear as hot spots on the images produced by the scanner. This may not be the best technical explanation you will ever hear of the process, but my subsequent research indicates that this description is sufficient to simply understand what the PET scan was about in my case.
After the injection you are encouraged to rest for about an hour. This is to give the mixture time to circulate and settle without going to working muscles which also use up the glucose. In my case they also administered a valium so that I would be more relaxed in the PET scanner, this is normal I was told if the patient has someone to take them home. Within the little room I was put to rest there was a bed so I had a nice little kip until they came to get me. There was also a camera so that they could monitor me during the down time.
I spent more than the hour waiting because the scanner had a malfunction and they needed their techo’s to fix it. I was due to be finished by about 1100 (H was coming to pick me up) but I didn’t get to go in until about that time.
Within the scanning room you are then laid onto a bed and slowly moved through a very narrow tunnel stopping every now and again for about 5-10 minutes while the scanner does its thing. The whole process was no great hassle. The only problem was the very narrow tunnel, not so much from a claustrophobic perspective but from a fit perspective. I was placed feet first into the tunnel and the scan commenced at about groin level and moved up my body in incremental creeps. So as to keep my arms as stationary as possible they slipped them into a "girdle" type device that basically kept them on my hips with my shoulders restricted, it is hard to explain but if you try sitting with your hands on you knees you will get the basic arm/shoulder configuration.
After the scan you are given a cup of coffee and some sandwiches which were very welcome given that by now it was about 12.30 and I had been fasting since the night before.
When I came out into the waiting room it was packed, no doubt from the backlog of patients and their families awaiting their turn in the big wherry thing. Among the sea of faces I spied H who had come to drive me home.