P.E.T Scan Results – What’s Next?

Hi Everyone,

I just received a call I have been waiting for from my Oncologist – Dr Pedley.
He had the results of the P.E.T Scan (Positron emission tomography – Basically a C.T Scan with ‘radiotracers’ to help to identify active tumours. In layman’s terms. It’s like providing ‘cancer food’ with a dye in it and when the CT is taken, any living cancer will light up on the scan)

As we already know, my recent CT and MRI scans on September 16th and 21st had shown no new growth in the bowel which was great news and the lungs had shown a massive decrease in the size and number of ‘lesions’ or metastatic cancers. These had decreased from 5 to 2 and of the 2 that remained, they showed signs of ‘centralised necrosis’ meaning they were dead or dying in the middle.

The P.E.T scan has now confirmed this. Nothing in the bowel absorbed the food and showed up on the scan which again is great news.
In the lungs it showed the same as above however it did show two lesions had soaked up the sugars in the ‘radiotracers’ but they have also decreased in size now which annoyingly will become more apparent later in the blog.

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So all in all this is great news. I must admit my ‘Scan-xiety’ wasn’t nearly as bad as in previous waits. Could it be because of the good news from the previous scan or perhaps the short time in between the recent scans? Either way, it wasn’t as bad, I wasn’t losing sleep over it. I had a more, ‘It is what it is’ attitude.

Kerry and me are really super happy with the results. We couldn’t really be any happier short of a NED result. I am still going to chase that, I’ll spend the rest of my life chasing that result. It is a massive weight off my mind. It means progress and future. I can’t believe the happy news. I think having the time to let the good news from the previous scans sink in, this just confirms everything for me. I know I’ll sleep well tonight.

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So what happens next?

Well…

Unfortunately, the lung mets have shrunk to the point where the SABR procedure is going to be difficult. They need to be of a certain size. We know that they are still cancerous lesions but we are going to have to let them increase in size a little more before the people from the SABR team would entertain me.

It’s a little disheartening to say the least. It’s kinda like hearing, “can you just go grow your cancer a little more and then come back” which I guess it really what they are saying. I do need R and R time, so it could work out well for me. We will look at re-scanning my lungs at the start of December and see where we are then.

So, the other thing suggested to me was that I am passed over to surgery to have a Sigmoidoscopy completed, they will take biopsies at the same time.
This is going to give them a clearer picture of what’s happened to me since the chemotherapy. Does the tumour need removal, or resection to just left alone.
If you are interested, the difference between a colonoscopy and a sigmoidoscopy is that a sigmoidoscopy is less invasive, because it only looks at the lower part of your colon. A colonoscopy looks at the entire large intestine.

As discussed in my previous blog. With my current pain levels. There is NO WAY IN HELL I could go through the procedure without a general anaesthetic. Dr Pedley knows and has explained this in my referral.
If I am honest, this gives me way less anxiety about the whole procedure too. I don’t know I would want to go through that awake.

I am still looking at a bit of delay before this procedure can go ahead I may be feeling a lot better when they call me to arrange it. However, I am not thinking about that right now. I am resting and trying my hardest to recuperate.

Dr Pedley said on the phone that he has no current plans for me to receive any chemotherapy or radiotherapy and Kerry and I just looked at each other and smiled. I totally zoned out for a moment. I can’t have been more than a second or two but for me. Christ… it felt like a lifetime.

There are fewer sentences a guy could hear that could make you stop like that.

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So now we wait, I am still waiting to feel a bit better and be able to get out for a walk, feel the sun on my face, throw some frisbees to the doggo.
I hope it’s not too much longer, but compared to how I was 2 or 3 weeks ago it can’t be too long.
There are so many things I want to be able to do and I haven’t been able to. I am still going to be sensible lockdown wise, but I wouldn’t mind a pint and a walk on a beach, so many to mention if I am honest.

However, for now. Rest up and keep working on getting past the pain.