It Seems So Long Ago... - August 30, 2010

Pete went for the MRI of one leg on Friday around noon. He said that they had to do a bit of improvising to get the scan of his entire leg bone because he is too tall for it to be done the normal way. They wound up using the full body machine, otherwise they would not have been able to get both ends of the bone in the scan as Dr R had ordered.

Pete asked the reason for doing only one scan per day and the response was that is how the insurance company sets up the approval. They will only cover 1 scan per day.

The techs at the imaging facility provide Pete with a CD of the scans and it's ready before he walks out the door. He came out into the kitchen this morning and told me that his leg had been bothering him so he viewed the scan on his computer. He said that he could clearly see the spot near his knee, and that it appears to be about the size of the original tumor that had been removed from his arm 19 months ago. He also said that he could feel the mass, but as is so common with sarcoma, it's hard to detect unless you have some clue that something is there.

It's only Monday, but it seems as though Friday was a long time ago. Today's scan was scheduled for 5 PM so we spent the day gathering up all kinds of metal to take to the scrap yard. We finally made our run over there around 3:30 and were home in time for Pete to shower and relax a bit before he went over to the imaging facilty.

Tomorrow morning he goes for the scan of his other leg. That appointment is for 8:30, and the appointment with Dr W, his local medical oncologist, is at 3:30. The pain management doctor he saw last week said he would speak with Dr W about his recommendation for the fentanyl pain patch because he felt that it would be best to keep all prescriptions under one doctor. I'm going to assume that Dr W will give him that prescription tomorrow.

As far as I know, there is nothing on the agenda for Wednesday. Thursday, though, is our trip back into Manhattan to meet again with Dr R. I wonder if the next two days will seem to pass as slowly as the last two did?