Scan Results

Cancer is not a game. But sometimes it feels like one.

As this recent scan approached I had several people express "excitement" to hear more victorious news. It seemed as though I was not a sickly cancer patient, but the star player in a rather intriguing soccer match. I like this mindset! I don't have to view each scan as a life-or-death pronouncement; just as the latest match between two rival teams.

In any given round Team Heidi might "win", showing decreased cancer activity, or Team Cancer might "win", showing increased activity. But win or lose, it's just one game out of hundreds to come over the years. Even with an elating win, I must continue to work hard and stay sharp. Or if faced with a frustrating (even scary) loss, I will dig deeper and rework the game plan.

After a 3 month duel, the scores for this latest round were tallied on Monday. And the winner was... ambiguous. Both teams have scored and the scores are controversial. We are tied.

To better explain this result I need to describe how PET scans work. The scan is based on tracing radioactive glucose which is injected into the patient an hour before performing the scan. During the hour between injection and scan the patient is required to sit quietly in a dimly lit room without doing anything - no reading, no iPhone, no music - just sit. Meanwhile, the radioactive glucose is being sucked up by the most hungry parts of the body. Fast growing or active cells need more energy and will greedily gobble up a larger portion. So the more glucose in a spot, the more active it is. Since cancer is fast growing, it will suck up a lot of glucose. But other parts of the body can suck up glucose too - like active muscles, a stimulated brain, or wound sites that are healing. That is why the patient is instructed not to do anything stimulating after the injection in order to avoid inaccurate numbers. In fact, the patient is told to not exercise the day before the test and they are asked to report any healing cuts or recent surgeries. Needless to say, PET scans are not perfect. They can give an amazing amount of information, but sometimes the meaning of that information can be... well, ambiguous.

In this round, Team Cancer appears to have scored a point because the scan showed activity in several new places in my bones. Team Heidi also appears to have scored a point because the scan showed that there is zero suspicious activity in any of the soft tissues of the body (no new organs affected), including the original tumor sites in the breast and armpit. According to my doctor, this scan indicates one of two things. Either Team Cancer has the advantage and is actually spreading, or Team Heidi has the advantage and the increased activity means the bones are actually healing. (Remember how the glucose can be sucked up by healing wounds?)

Based on the fact that the original tumor sites are now "dead" and that I have no pain in any of the new sites and that my overall bone pain is reducing, the doctor is inclined to believe that my body is healing and that we should move forward with our treatment plan. That means I am done with chemotherapy (YAY!) and I start hormone therapy today (it must be done, but I am dreading it). We will do another scan in 3 more months. In the meantime, I am going to assume that I am winning and continue to do the things that got me here: healthy eating, physical therapy, spiritual peace and positive attitude.

So if you've been a spectator on my little blog, eager to find out if and when Team Heidi would win... well, go grab yourself a bowl of un-buttered, un-salted, air-popped popcorn and a super-sized water and settle in; cause we're in overtime baby!