Sometimes a bad back is just a bad back

I can say that the PET scan today was one of the most uncomfortable things I have ever done. First they gave me a shot that made me radioactive. The stuff came in a lead lined box in a lead lined syringe. After I got it I was put in a lead lined room by myself. They wouldn't even let Greg sit with me. "She is pretty radioactive right now, it would be better if you sat out front." Unlike the bone scan, for the PET scan I couldn't leave and come back. I sat there an hour reading and napping. The scan itself was in a long tube while laying on a thin board. They velcroed my arms to the side of my body and it took about 20 minutes. It was a long 20 minutes. My leg went to sleep, my arms were shaking from holding them under my body, I needed to cough, and of course the imagined itchy areas. Well, I didn't move and the scan went fine. We went and had lunch, did some shopping, and met with my oncologist for great news. My scan was clean and my blood tests came back perfectly normal. What a relief - Plan A it is! The doctor said my scan was the only clean scan he had all day so I think he enjoyed giving good news as much as I enjoyed hearing it. I started to cry before I even left the building. What a relief - the stress and worry of the past two weeks were gone in the space of a second. I don't plan on going back into the cancer center until 2011!!