I was just leaving the bank, when the phone rang, it was the hospital. They had my scan date. It was to be the following day. With anything like this you just grab the appointment short notice or not!

I have  had lots of MRI scans before, but was warned that PET scans were very different, as I have never had one before I had no idea what to expect.

The woman on the phone warned me that I was to fast for 6 hours before the scan, and to give at least 2 hours for the appointment in total.

So with that, I called my mum and partner, to make sure they would be able to come with me, my partner could but unfortunately my mum wasn’t able to make this one.

Knowing it was just a scan we decided that would be ok and I would just keep her up to date throughout the day.

I have a lovely friend, who is herself, going through cancer treatment, who kindly dropped over some paperwork she had from the hospital about what to expect from the PET scan. This was so kind, and prepared me as much as I could  for the following days appointment.

The appointment itself was mid afternoon, around 2 if I recall correctly, but it wasn’t our local hospital yet again we made the train journey to London, over to the hospital. Once we got there we made our way to the cancer centre, and up the lift to the scanning unit. We signed in and were directed to the waiting room where we only sat for a matter of minutes  before it was my turn. Knowing that it would be a while before I was done, and tummy rumbling my partner said farewell  and went on a hunt for some food.  She had been fasting in solidarity with me!

I was taken into aside  room with two nurses. One asked me the questions that are usually asked prior to having a scan, such as

“are you pregnant?”

“are you breastfeeding?”

“have you got any metal implants, braces, a pacemaker, hearing aid or dentures?”

They asked a little more about my medical history, if I knew what the scan was for. They then took my weight and height. After this they inserted a canula and took me through to a larger room that had several small booths. In each booth there was an armchair, and an intercom system on the wall. The booths were small but comfortable and could be made private by a curtain should you wish.at the end of the larger room the booths were in was a drinks fountain and a toilet. The nurse told me to make myself comfortable and she would be back soon.  So, I sat in the armchair and waited for her to return.

She soon did, with a trolley. She explained everything to me, but essentially the trolley contained a radioactive solution, she attached my canula and within about a minute  I was detached and she said that I would be required to wait in the small booth for an hour. I was only to leave the booth to use the toilet because I was radioactive now. She showed me how to use the intercom system in case I should need anything.  That was it. So I had an hour to kill, but it went pretty quickly really, I just scrolled online messaged my mum and partner. It was quite easy going really. A few other people were taken into their booth during this time too. 

My intercom went off, one of the nurses said that I would need to take of my bra (I had already come prepared and wore a sports bra, because it’s the underwire that causes the problem, not the bra itself) and was also told that I should empty my bladder, the nurse said I had about 10  minutes  and they would come and get me.  So I went for one last wee and was taken through to the scanner. Its different to an MRI,  I have had plenty of those, they are quite claustrophobic , they are often cold, and very noisy. In all honesty they are not nice experiences  at all really. Whereas the PET scan wasn’t as bad, its more open than the tube used for MRIs and there was no noise. I almost fell asleep. The scan probably lasted for about half an hour or so, then I was told I was free to go. Needless to say, at this point I was starving hungry. It was gone half four and I hadn’t eaten yet. So we dashed  over the way and went straight for something to eat.

Tired and with full bellies we headed back on the train home with one more week to wait for the results.