It happens every eight weeks.

CT scans. The days seem to fly by in between. Scan days are always tougher for a number of reasons. The barium “smoothies” (ugh) must be started two hours before the scheduled time for scans. We usually have to begin early and stay late at the clinic, as scans must be read and results revealed before we see the doctor or get into the treatment room. There is always a sense of urgency, even if we’re not really worried about the results. It’s just that there is so much riding on what this fifteen minute test reveals. And we know that things can change so quickly and often without warning. It doesn’t really get any easier. Some things about it kind of become more automatic, but it is still a scan day. We are reminded that our lives are truly in God’s hands.

CT scans are almost painless. Aside from the horrible experience of the “smoothies,” the only real pain occurs when the IV for the dye, or contrast, is started. The actual scanning only takes a few minutes (unlike the PET Scan and MRI). Following a couple of passes through the doughnut-shaped scanner, the dye is power-injected and a couple of more passes are completed. The power-injection enables the contrast to move through the body in a few seconds, and is accompanied by a crazy warm feeling internally that begins at the mouth and moves down to the pelvis. If the technician had not forewarned me the first time about this sensation, I would have thought something had gone terribly wrong. (I wonder if this was what it may feel like to be poisoned.) The images produced by CT could be compared to looking into a loaf of bread by cutting the loaf into thin slices, and often are used for monitoring tumor sizes and gauging success or failure of cancer treatments.

Anyway, we are fortunate in that we are made aware of the results within a matter of a couple of hours. Anyone who has had scans knows that waiting for the results can often be traumatic, so for us the waiting is almost a non-factor. After the triage nurse took what seemed to be almost all of my blood for labs, we were moved into the doctor’s waiting room pretty quickly this time. Dr. Mita came in shortly and said that everything on the scans was unchanged. No new masses and no growth. Praise the Lord!

Unfortunately, many patients don’t receive good news. Two of our close friends at the clinic have both received bad news in the past month about their scans. One will be having major surgery next week to have more tumors removed; the other will be seeing the surgeon tomorrow to discuss whether or not surgery is an option. Please pray for these two. They are at critical points in each of their fights.

We appreciate so much the support from our friends and families.