This Week's Medical Responsibilities

Monday and Tuesday are the only two days where I do not have any medical obligations aside from the weekend.  On Wednesday, I get my teeth cleaned which is covered by my dental insurance program and usually only lasts about 30 minutes, and I do get seen by the dentist for 30 seconds or so to simply verify the findings of the dental assistant. 

Thursday is my long anticipated SEOND COVID VACCINE shot and while the actual shot takes 30 seconds, I have to wait in my car for about 30 minutes in line and there is another 15 minute wait to make sure there are no problems with the shot.

Friday...  brings me in contact with my second long awaited IVIG infusion where my body is loaded up with antibodies from about 30,000 to 50,000 other individuals.  I am receiving this infusion because of my low immune system which has in turn caused me to have constant sinus infections and nose bleeds.  A couple of years ago, I was receiving this infusion monthly, but due to a shortage, I was eliminated from the schedule since my need was not critical.

A year later, my Oncologist put me back on the schedule for IVIG but every other month...  and, the month of the infusion, everything inside my body was cleared up but in the off month, everything that it had corrected returned.  I shared this with my Oncologist and he was going to write orders for me to receive the infusion every month.

I will find out if those orders went through this Friday.

PET Scan

A PET Scan is an image made using positron emission tomography.  These images  are a type of test that create 3 dimensional (3D) pictures of the inside of your body. PET stands for positron emission tomography. The PET scan uses a mildly radioactive drug to show up areas of your body where cells are more active than normal. It's used to help diagnose some conditions including cancer.

My Oncologist requests alternating CT and PET Scans every 3 months so today I was scheduled for a PET Scan that requires me to have a radioactive dye injected into my body and after waiting an hour, lay on the table that moves through the doughnut shaped machine as images are taken of the insides of my body.  The scan itself lasts about 15 minutes.

I lay on my back with my knees propped up and lay my arms down by my side tucking my hands underneath my butt.  Even though it is only 15 minutes, my neck begins to get numb laying on the hard pillow, my knees begin to get numb, and my hands begin to get numb as well.

This morning, I was wearing a surgical face mask as well as disposable on both hands.  This time, more and more people were wearing face masks than when I had been at the hospital two weeks ago for chemo treatment.

It is good to see that people are finally taking COVID-19 seriously.

In two weeks, I will see my Oncologist to get the result of this scan and informed if my cancers have maintain, reduced, grown, and/or spread.  I go through this every 90 days.

Hodgkin's versus Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma