A Scanner Darkly

Yesterday, the chaos following diagnosis began, but thanks to some good results, seems to have paused for a week...

Simon and I deceided to take a weekend away, as it may well have been our last weekend of relative normality for a good while. Destination was The Vineyard at Stockcross, which is a 5* hotel which just happens to have a 2 Michelin Star restaurant attached to it. It also has a wine list printed on A4 paper nearly an inch thick. The sommeliers are however, more than happy to provide recomendations for those without an encylopedic knowledge of wine. We ate and drank very well.

It was off to the hospital bright and early yesterday morning for the first round of scans - MRI and CT. My sister Kate was able to join me for these, and will be staying with us for the next few days to help me keep sane. If anyone know much about the relationship between me and my sister, you might think that this would be an oxymoron, but so far I haven't had the urge to kill her ;).


MRI was first up, and I had a cannula inserted into my arm, as for both tests they need to inject you with a contrast agent to help show up what they're looking for. In the case of the MRI they were looking for the extent of the tumour and the blood supply to it. Thankfully, given that I get slightly claustrophobic I was to go in the machine face down and feet first. The table I had to lie on made me feel very dignified - like a masseuse table, but instead of a hole for your head, two holes to put your boobs in. It wasn't too uncomfortable however, and I brought a Tim Minchin CD to listen to during the test, as it was 30 minutes long. Aside from the weird noises and the fact that my forehead went numb (you have to stay as still as possible though the test), it was actually rather relaxing.

As they pull you out of the machine and unplug your headphones, the music starts piping into the room. So as I was getting up and making myself decent again, the song Fuck I Love Boobs came on over the stereo. Thankfully not too loudly, but it did give me an attack of the giggles. Tim for the win.

CT scan was up next where I had to drink a litre of another contrast agent within an hour. It didn't taste too bad - although given that the flavour was aniseed, not everyone would agree. Given my previous studies, I knew what to expect from the MRI scan, but I wasn't sure what to expect from the CT scanner. It turned out to look like a truncated MRI scanner, so just a short torus. And so for my scan I was passed through the hole of a donut while being injected with a liquid that makes you feel like you've wet yourself. Glad that they warned me about that beforehand.

By 1pm I was finished with my scans, but the blood lab was closed for lunch, so Kate treated me to lunch at Cafe Rouge, and we did a bit of food shopping before heading back to the hospital for my blood tests.

Given that I had my bloods taken at 3pm yesterday, I was happily surprised to discover that the breast clinic had received them in time for my 10am appointment (actual time 11:30). I'm pleased to report that my blood tests came back looking normal (no raised tumour indicators, inflammatory markers, liver function etc), which along with the CT scan showing nothing abnormal indicates that its unlikely that the cancer has spread beyond my lymph nodes, which is excellent news. Just the bone scan which I'm waiting to be booked in for to go, but given the results so far, it looks like (relatively) good news.

I did have to have some further biopsies - on the lymph node and on the breast lump. The lymph node one was done under ultrasound, and wasn't too bad. They gave me extra anaesthetic to try and counter the fact that it usually runs out quickly for me. This time, the feeling came back part way through the second core sample being taken. I think that the nurses realised at this point that when I say I run through anaesthetic quickly, I'm not making it up.

Unfortunately this didn't really help me for the second lot of biopsies, which were done under mammogram (so as well as being harpooned with a big needle, you're being squashed into the imager). By the time that they were able to get the needle positioned for the biopsy the numbness was wearing (or in one case completely worn off). The plan was to take 7 samples. In the end, they only needed to take 4, as they were able to confirm that they had got the samples they needed quickly (they were specifically looking to get samples of the calcification in the lump - which can be where the primary cancer is located, but also generally will give more information on the type of cancer). I honestly have never experienced anything so painful before. I suppose that as the intention is to drag small lumps of flesh out of you, its not surprising. Hopefully I won't need any further biopsies, but I am likely to have to go through similar procedures. I'm hoping that there are alternative local anaesthetics available otherwise, unless they knock me out, its not likely to be painless.

Still, over all, today has brought good news, so I can't complain too much. And the staff looking after me were very kind and understanding and continually apologising for my pain, although it wasn't their fault.