Blog Update Tuesday 26-3-24

 Well good afternoon Friends , its been a long time since my Last update on the 19th Jan , but to be honest not a lot has changed apart from me getting more and more Frustrated with my Lack of Progress , which has affected me Mentally and Physically , I still have no sense of Taste or Smell and because my mouths Saliva Ducts arent functioning yet I am having big issues with a Dry Mouth , leading to problems eating food that I should be eating to get my weight back on but my Mouth is rejecting certain foods and they are constantly changing .I have sought help and advice but that wasnt easy ,I have been in my Black Hole since treatment finished , I have heard nothing from Anyone at Christies and ended up ringing North Manchester General people for help and seeing my own Doctor , the Symptoms I am having are common with Radiotherapy which I had so its Patience and time , I have tried various Prescriptions for my mouth but nothing really solves it but 1 does help a little at night , but thats where I am at this time.

So this morning early doors I travelled to  Christies for my Whole Body PET  CT Scan, see below detail, Positron Emission Tomography with Computerised Tomography (  is that clearer for you ha ha ) this is Carried out at the Nuclear Medicine  Department at the Christies.

So on arrival I am checked in , and meet my Nurse for the morning Lucy who takes me to a room to get weighed and Height Measured then I am taken to a Lead Lined room on the Radioactive side of the department where she explains what is going to take place and fill out some paperwork once this is done Lucy brings in a little trolley with all sorts of stuff on it 

Part 1 yet another hole in my arm for a Cannula through which i will be receiving various treatments , the first one is Saline which goes through o.k , then Lucy leaves the room and returns with a weird device in her hand and shuts the Lead Lined Door , she has got the Radioactive Agent in the Device 2 MLS which is then pumped into me through the Cannula , I dont feel or Notice any difference but am informed that I am now Radioactive , another First experience !!, Lucy tells me I have to recline my chair and just relax for 1 hour while the Agent works around my body , no reading or Phones to be used just releax , she leaves and shuts the door , I decide to have a Kip , seemed the thing to do .

1 hour later Lucy returns and requests me to empty my Bladder before we go for the Scan , which I do , I am then taken through to the CT Machine with help of  Liam I am Strapped  onto the machine to stop me moving the Scan will take about 40 minutes , once they and me are Happy they leave the room and the Scan begins , very quiet machine this one , after 40 minutes the Machine stops they come in and Lucy explains they are now  going to connect my Cannular to a Contrast X-Ray agent for the next CT Scan , they leave the room and the machine starts again , not long 5 or 6 minutes , then stops , Lucy returns disconnect my Cannula Tube from my arm and i am told to get up and go back to the Little Lead Lined Room with a very heavy door , where i remain for 30 minutes while they check the Scan for quality and let me recover with a nice cuppa . Once they are Happy with Scan and Me Cannula is removed and I am escorted to the safe side with a serious warning that I am Radioactive and avoid Contact with people especially Pregnant Ladies , so I go get my car and head home .

Certainly and Interesting morning I did ask about Radioactive Material , they have about 4 deliveries a day but the vehicle can only carry 4 doses , Security , and comes either from Preston  or Kent and IS VERY EXPENSIVE  , as was my Scan today but they wouldnt tell me the cost 

So thats it friends another Experience had and now I wait yet again for the 5th April when I hopefully get the good news ,but will do a Blog then anyway.

Take care and thank you

Tom