Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Disappointment abounds

In a disappointing, albeit not wholly unexpected, turn of events, I did not set off any detectors when I passed through Logan International Airport yesterday afternoon.  As I approached security, I was prepared.  My shoes were in a little tub; I had removed all liquids from my bag; my pockets were free of change.  And I had grabbed a little paper card and stuck it in my back pocket, hoping I would get to use it.  What little card?  The little card I had received five hours earlier at my PET scan, stating this:  "This patient had a Nuclear Medicine Procedure [sic] and may still have small amounts of radiation capable of being detected by radiation monitoring equipment.  The amount of radiation poses no danger to the public and is allowed by NRC Medical use regulations."  In short, I was acceptably radioactive, and I had the card to prove it.

Alas, either those detectors do not, in fact, detect any radiation activity, or the amount of the tracer in my system had diminished enough so as to be undetectable.  Either way, I was disappointed when I sailed through security and on to my gate.  Oh well; maybe next time.

In other news, Cancer-Free!!

Still.  No tumor, blood counts are all normal, no questionable levels of anything in my system.  I was officially taken off of all cancer-related medications, which is so weird, but such a relief.  After two and a half years of so many pills, so many things to remember, I can finally start fully cleansing my system of all those chemicals.  From here on out, I get a PET scan every six months for the next two years, then once a year until 2013, which will be the five-year mark of treatment completion.  Blood work is thrown in there every once in a while, but I can have that done anywhere.  I'll be sticking with Dana-Farber and my doctor in Boston, at least for the time being.  I figure since everything else in my life is so up in the air, it is just easier to know I have to be in Boston every six months, instead of moving All of my records and such to someone new every time I move around.

So that's it for now.  Check back tomorrow or in a few days because I have an important and Long-overdue update on something very exciting.  Hooray!  Okay, peace.