It's Tuesday night, December 29th... my brother's birthday. I was waiting for contact from my parents to see how everything went today, but nothing as of yet, so I thought I'd just post what I know.
Yesterday my dad posted the following on his facebook..."Had a PET/CT (Positron Emission Tomography) today. A lot of staying very still while the radioactive material and the machine does it's thing. We will find out the results on Monday. I get my "portal" installed tomorrow AM. I'm ready for the tests, etc. to be over and start fighting the disease." It's awesome seeing his fabulous attitude, and that matches up exactly with what my dad is... a doer. Give him a task, and he will accomplish it, not matter what.
Well, if you are anything like me, I didn't quite understand the all the medical stuff, so I searched a bit tonight, and this is what I found...
"A Positron Emission Tomography (PET/CT) produces cross-sectional whole body images of metabolic function. A diseased organ may use greater or lesser amounts of energy or glucose than normal organs, and diagnoses can be made from the amount of metabolic activity measured by a PET/CT scan. Because malignant tumors use more energy than normal tissues, PET/CT is particularly useful for the diagnosis and staging of cancer, and to determine the effectiveness of treatment." - care of www.georgetownuniversityhospital.org
The "portal" that he is referring too, I believe, is some piece of technology that the doctors use to hold all the information that the tests are providing. Basically, it holds all the pictures that the doctors need to see to determine if the specific treatment is working or not, and to make recommendations for the future.
So that's all I know for now... please continue to keep us in your prayers. This isn't the best way to start off the new year, but I just keep thinking that next Christmas, when the whole family is together, this will be behind us, and we can rejoice in each other's company!
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