I arrived at the hospital right at 8:30 AM. I proceeded to the admissions office to start the "paper work" and pay my co payment. After these steps were done, to my surprise there was no waiting I was ushered to"Nuclear Medicine" were I was to get an I.V. inserted in my arm and then an injection of some high test nuclear fluid. This fluid needs about 2 hours to travel to my bones for the bone scan. The nurse hooked me up and I was told to go to the 2nd floor for my CAT scan. It was quick trip up the elevator and 2 right turns and I was there. I delivered my "papers" and was told to wait in the waiting room. I pulled out my Ipod and the technician called my name before I could even boot up.
But before the CAT scan I was told lets do the chest x-ray thing first. So now I am off to get my chest x-rayed. It was about 5 minutes of hold your breath and turn this way and don't move.
Now back to the CAT scan room. I was instructed to lay down on this machine that appeared to be that portal that transports you back in time in the show I think it's called "Journey to Atlantis". Anyway the bed portion of the machine traveled me back and forth inside this "Hulla Hoop" on steroids halo section thing. At one point the technician had to inject contrast in the I.V. in my arm. Now the fun starts because he informed me that the I.V. was not working. What does that mean I asked? Well he had to remove the I.V. and stick me again in the other arm. This one worked! Now it's back and forth again. The process takes about 30-40 minutes. He was done and I was told I could finally eat which was a good thing. I was ravenously hungry. As a matter of fact I had progressed beyond hungry to "hongry" as said in the hood.
I had lunch. I was told to return to the hospital at 11:30 for the bone scan. First I sat on this one scanner which scanned my butt. They call this the "moon shot". This was about 10 minutes. Then on to the most boring scanner that takes about 45 minutes. You lay on the this bed and this "wand" of sort scans you from head to toe very very slowly. How slow was it? It goes so slow I actually fell asleep. The bone scan film was very interesting in that I could now see all of the areas/joints that are sore as a result one, me getting old and two, golf! The result was not bad for a guy my age when it was all said and done.
My last stop for the day was with the radiation oncologist. Again more paper work and another co payment. Bottom line, I was impressed with the office, the staff and the doctor. The doctor took the time to review with me all treatment options and we had our Q&A session. One comment was made by the the doctor was that given the size and my early detection, "If we were in Europe, the recommendation would be to do nothing". He made it clear he was not advocating that plan but it was important for me to know that I was very curable and I have options. So again a testament for early detection......EARLY DETECTION is a key so any of you men out there reading this.......get your butt checked out!!
My treatment choice continues to be IMRT and Proton therapy. IMRT has taken a slight lead at this point. My assessment is both are very similar in actual treatment, side effects, and cure rates. I can get the IMRT local to my home. There is still additional vetting needed relative to my doctor, this therapy center and the Proton therapy center at Loma Linda University. Stay tuned. http://www.radiologyinfo.org/en/info.cfm?PG=imrt&bhcp=1 and http://www.protons.com/
