Too full

Yes, it really is me in here

I went for my planning scan at the hospital. This is where they map out where my tumour is, and line me up (including some marker tattoo dots) to make sure that the treatment hits the same spot every time.

But first they do a little scan just to make sure they can see everything. And they couldn't. I was 'too full'. So I did a little emptying and then returned to the scanner. Still too much.

I went into the booth and looked at my scan on screen. I could see my insides, my upper intestine and the lower gut. The 'dark matter' was the problem! The more matter in there, the wider they have to do the scan to make sure they hit the right area, and the wider the area, the more radiation contamination. So the smaller the area, the better. That meant they didn't want to do the scan this time round. It happens quite often, I was told. If I had known I would have perhaps eaten less the day before, but they don't want people to change eating habits. Instead I will have to make sure I am 'empty' before I go next time.

Last week when I saw the consultant he gave me immodium. This week the radiologist gave me senna. I am going to have an interesting few weeks, for sure!

My rescheduled scan is for next Wednesday. After then, hopefully, I'll know when I start radiotherapy.

I will have to watch my diet

Once I have completed my treatment, I will still have my tattoos - just small dots - but a permanent reminder. Sheena has her three tattoos from her radiotherapy too. We are both going to get one of our tattoo dots turned into a dragon tattoo. They'll be in different places, but when we look at them, we'll be reminded that we both went through hell, and came out smiling.

See also:

Scans