LIFE AT 61 - LATEST PET SCAN

Im actually writing this a bit late but had a lot happening recently.  I had a short vacation to California, then did an install job out there, then came home and had a PET scan, then Dr appointment, then this week had a different Dr appointment with an ENT.

Well the good news is the Cardinals are one game away from going to the World Series AGAIN this year.  How AWESOME is that??!!

Oh yeah, the OTHER good news is that the most recent PET scan came back TOTALLY NEGATIVE!!!  Praise God for that.  I must admit that I was a bit apprehensive only because one of my friends who had been cancer free for a bit over a year had a relapse into a different type of cancer, another friend who had another form of mouth cancer, had an infection and had to have yet another surgery.  Satan does like to get into your head and really mess with your emotions and beliefs and literally wreak havoc on things.  It is what he does best.  HOWEVER any apprehension was for naught.  Really the hardest part of these PET scans is convincing them to use the power port I have to give the radioactive sugar injection and then laying perfectly still for 35 minutes while the machine scans your whole body.  Other than that, they are pretty simple and straight forward.  It appears that I will have to have a PET scan every 3 months for the foreseeable future.  Small price to pay for knowledge that things are where they should be and that things that should not be there are NOT there. LOL.

The ENT Dr was my idea.  I guess maybe I was expecting too much too soon, or at least in my own mind I was.  I still am having a bit of trouble with my voice.  For those of you who know me, you know I love to sing, and typically Ive been singing tenor more than bass only because I could, and it is kinda fun to see how high you can go.  LOL  Well since the radiation, Ive lost most all of my upper range and really have only my lower range which makes it hard to sing.  My basic concern was, IF I try to push things will it harm my voice.  Well the answer was no.  The ENT was quite pleased with what he saw when he "scoped" my throat, (an interesting experience in itself, a process where then run a small camera tube up your nose and down your throat.)  :-)  He had to ask where the tumor was on my larynx.  That is good because that means there is not even a scar from it being there.  There is some residual damage from the radiation, and that may take as long as 2 years to go away.  The other good news is that all the tissue was nice and pink and looks like new, with the exception of some swelling.  EXACTLY what I expected to see.  The other good news is that I will be going to a speech therapist who also works with singers to help them get back what they can.  Im excited about that.  I dont want this to sound like Im this wonderful operatic singer, because Im not, I just enjoy singing the the church choir, and a community choir.  Its a fun thing for an old guy to do.  :-)  Im a bit over 3 months out of radiation treatment.  Really not that long in the scheme of things.  Radiation is the gift that keeps on giving so to speak.  If you have been following this blog, you know that I really had not many issues during the radiation treatments.  However because of the way radiation works it keeps "burning" for quite some time after it is over with.  That is the issue I have now.  I did not even have a sore throat until AFTER the treatment was done.  HOWEVER it was not near as bad as the Dr's had promised it would be.

All in all, things are great.  I have been able to get rid of some excess weight, NOT a recommended diet plan, but Im feeling great.  Im back riding my bike.  Im working out regularly, including a great program at the Y called LIVESTRONG.  It is sponsored by the LIVESTRONG foundation.  This is a very worthwhile organization and they help a lot of people.  I rode 25 miles in a local bicycle ride called PEDAL THE CAUSE, that was a fundraiser for cancer research.  A fun ride even if it was only 38 degrees at the start.  LOL  It was not much warmer at the finish, about 45.  Would not have been too  bad if the wind had not been blowing at 10-15 miles an hour.  :)

All in all DOING GREAT!