Nuclear Medicine

Nuclear medicine has come a long way. Think back to the bomb shelters of the 50's and 60's, where everyone was fearful of nuclear radiation fallout. People were encouraged to build lead lined shelters in their own yards to protect them from possible radiation fallout, which would lead to a 'horrible death". Today people are willing to have radioactive tracers injected into their very own bodies, not as a way to end their lives, but as a way to help prolong their life. In the past two days nuclear medicine has played a big part in Kevin's battle to rid melanoma from his life. Two different radioactive tracers have been used; one to help with the node mapping, the other, done today to look for "hot spots" or areas of metastases. Today's PET Scan using a radioactive tracer, will give a three dimensional view of his entire body, identifying hot zones, where cancer may have spread to. The process starts with fasting, then they give you a "banana flavored drink" which helps move the tracer through the body. After drinking it, you wait about 30 minutes then the radioactive tracer is injected. After a very short period of time the scanning begins. It takes about 2 hours for a total body scan. Then you go home with no restrictions. Follow up with the oncologist will take place this Wednesday, then the results of the PET Scan and the node biopsy will be discussed. We have the weekend off, no doctors, no tests, just waiting until Wednesday. Honestly the waiting is truly the hard part. Stay cool and have a nice weekend. It will be a hot one. Don't forget the sunscreen!