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Thursday, 5 February 2015

The scans of life.

Today scans are a part of the routine health check up and they could save lives.  A cancer patient and survivor  as a part of the routine check up has to go through the scans of life, to sustain good life because they can show if the cancer has made a come back in any part of the body. They help to identify variety of conditions in the body.  A pet scan helps in detecting cancer, revealing the spreading of cancer,  effectiveness of the treatment or recurrence of cancer.

For me each scan is a process of learning, always experiencing something new. The Pet scan in a new diagnostic center and the formalities too different each time.  On the basis of 'first come first serve' I paid and waited till they called for me. When my name was called, they asked for minute details, I didn't have to change into their uniform as I didn't have any metals on me. The nurse's query of which side made me smile and say both sides, and followed by a look of confusion as to which side to fix the IV set. I felt amused as usual at the thought of an IV set on my legs, but another nurse told her to fix it on the side that was operated first.

After all the formalities waited for my turn, and I went into the radiation room where Pet scan patients had to wait. I was injected with the radio tracer into my vein and the syringe was a big metal one that would amuse  a person. after that I was given a jug of medicated water to drink at my pace in an hour. It was a different experience and learning for me. My turn for scan came after patiently waiting for an hour. Before the scan I was given another glass of the concentrated medicated water.

After being strapped to the metal bed, I went to and fro in the scanning machine with few minutes of holding breath each time I went to and fro. The dye injected as usual gave a stinging pain that spread to every part of the body and then cooled it off. Again I went in and out of the machine. I had got used to the scan. My doctor asked me if I was fed up of all the scans, I told him I took it as a new learning experience each time I had to go for a scan. Any way the scan over I was made to wait in the scan pet scan waiting room.

Anyways, the Pet scan report didn't show anything alarming except for a thickening of the chest wall, that would be observed. All my organs intact, I was happy that I was better off than many others. Challenges keep coming taking me through unknown paths of life and that keeps me alive. I am happy for the little blessing in my life that mean a lot to me.

2 comments:

Silhouettes said...

You are a living proof of Mind over matter..:)

Geetha Paniker said...

:-)