MRI and CT day

I woke up with a weird pain in the back of my shoulder this morning.. or did I?

Such is life these days when I start to wonder whether every single discomfort is an indication that the cancer has spread, and that is probably the most difficult part of this whole situation, not knowing, waiting.

Yesterday I increased my dosage of Provera to 200mg after 7 days at 100mg, and I felt the difference almost immediately. I felt a bit moodier, or more so, I could tell I was by the way I was reacting to tiny things, like bad drivers who almost ran us over a zebra crossing, or my husbands driving. As much as I try to be positive and even-minded it seems moodiness is something a woman just can't help when it comes to hormones. The lips are still dry and I'm still not drinking enough water. I've always disliked water... it just has no taste!

Getting an MRI and CT booking at the radiologist was a bit of a drama last week. At first I was told that I had to send in a copy of my referral sheet so that they could see the clinical notes, and determine what machine they needed to use for an MRI. I did this, and then booked in my MRI at 9:30am on the 20th of November. Unfortunately the CT couldn't be booked for the same day so I was to go back on the 21st of November at 10:00am.

Then I got a call back asking if I could change the date to the 19th for the MRI, as the senior radiologist wanted to be a part of the procedure, she had been noted on my referral from the oncologist. Apparently her specialty is Gynaecological Oncology.

So I went in today, not knowing what to expect. When they called me after all the forms had been filled, I was informed that they wanted to do the CT today or tomorrow as there was a meeting being held that they needed the results for, between the senior radiologist and my oncologist. So I was advised that the only appointment available was 3:30 this afternoon. I decided that was OK, I'd just stick around. Not ideal but not like I had anything in particular to do. I thought it was a bit weird they could fit me in all of a sudden when the person I'd spoken to before was adamant a CT could only be done on the 21st.

I went into the MRI room, put on a gown, and was lead to the machine where I had to lie down.

The whole procedure took about 45 minutes and it was hard work trying to lie flat on my back, keep still and breathe shallow. Sometimes I had to hold my breath for what seemed like half a minute, and the second half of the MRI was with some substances injected into a canula in my arm. Because of the Canula I had t place my arm above my head which made the shallow breathing even more difficult.

After the MRI, it was off to the CT. Somehow the technician managed to slot me in after my MRI so I didn't have to come back, and that was awesome.

In comparison, the CT was easy, over somewhat quickly. They first had to flush out the dye from the MRI and inject their own dye into my arm to make everything light up. This dye made my mouth feel a bit dry, I could suddenly taste something like new plastic in my mouth, and I felt the sensation roll down the trunk of my body into my pelvis. As the technician said, I felt like I was peeing my pants, but I wasn't. I was warned about all these symptoms.

In about 10 minutes, the whole thing was over and I was ready to pay the bill. An MRI and CT is an expensive account to pay.

So far, the medical bills have been large but luckily part of that will be covered by my private health insurance. Just when I thought I'd been paying way too much... it all comes in handy at some point

I'm curious as to what stage the cancer will be diagnosed at and whether my treatment plan will change. We'll find out on Monday