MUGAs, CTs and Chemo . . . Oh My!

Today, at 9 o'clock, I went to CDH (my hospital) for my last two tests (for the time being). All that was involved in the MUGA scan (it's an acronym for something) was getting injected with some small amount of stuff and waiting 15 minutes. Then I was taken into a room with a large machine like the bone scan machine. I laid on the table and the technician put another IV into my arm with another fluid. He slid me into the machine so that my heart was under a diagonally placed x-ray frame and I stayed there for 10 minutes while the machine took pictures of my heart function. Much like the bone scan, I was able to see my heart - left and right ventricles - beating in my chest in dot matrix-style. By 9:30 I was done which was not a good thing since my CT wasn't until 12:00.

Luckily, the tech who did the MUGA was a really nice young med student who asked the ladies behind the desk to take me in early. Almost immediately after I settled into the chair in the waiting room, I was called to go in for the CT. They didn't realize that I was having a scan of my chest, abdomen and pelvis areas, so instead of putting me into the machine right away, I had to go sit in another waiting room and spend an hour drinking a 1/4 cup of barium every 1/4 hour. It wasn't too bad since they flavored it with either raspberry, peach iced-tea Crystal Light or vanilla. I went with the peach. It was like a bad smoothie from a place you would never go to again, but still not disgusting. I felt a little guilty when two other CT patients with appointments before my original noon time came in and drank their barium smoothies and I still got called in first. Oh well - I just didn't make eye contact with them on my way out. It wouldn't have mattered if we hadn't shared out appt. times while we were commenting on the taste of our smoothies, but I had told them I got snuck in early. Oops.

After the drink was finished the tech came to get me and again, I laid on a table that was slid into a machine. I was pricked again and told that at one point during the pictures, the IV would release iodine into my system and it would feel warm and almost like I was wetting myself. The guy in the waiting room had mentioned that, but I was skeptical. No joke, you feel it the instant the iodine hits your blood stream and it travels down the side of your body until it REALLY DOES FEEL like you've wet yourself. I mean, it feels so real, you are hoping you didn't let loose for real while you were feeling like you did! Crazy stuff! Luckily, when I got off the table I was still dry. How embarrassing would THAT have been!

I left the hospital WAY earlier than planned and got to spend the rest of the afternoon at home. Did some work for school, read some of The Hunger Games (another great Young Adult book!) and took the boys to swimming lessons where Mario earned the MOST IMPROVED certificate for the summer session. He really has come such a long way!

A few moments ago, Beni asked me how I'm feeling about tomorrow. "Excited? Upset?" Neither. I am kind of indifferent. I have had so many tests done that at this point chemo seems like another period of time where I will sit with a needle in my arm. I am definitely not excited. This isn't something I have been looking forward to, though I am glad to get it underway. The sooner we start, the sooner we finish. I admit that I am worried about the timing and how I will feel for the beginning of the school year, but there is nothing I can do about that but take it one day at a time. [Now the theme song from the late 70s sitcom is playing in my head]. I am also dreading my hair falling out, but I know that will come in time, too. Today, I received my mom's knit cap from when she underwent chemo in the mail from my sister. I also ordered three cotton skull caps for around the house and my wig should be ready before the hair falls out. Fingers crossed.

So, tomorrow is the big day. As Beni said, my fight begins tomorrow. I disagreed. I think the emotional and mental fight has already begun. The physical fight starts tomorrow. If I am feeling okay, I'll let you know all about it tomorrow evening. If not, give me a few days and I'll get you all caught up. So many of you have already reached out with messages letting me know you will be thinking of me and praying and each of those messages is like a big warm hug I will take with me to my chemo chair!

On your marks, get set, here we go . . .