PET Scan Nightmare

A friend just had a routine PET scan, and she e-mailed me this account of the ordeal.

Prayers and the PET scan

OK, Hell must exist...I just lived through it...and if she (the PET scan lady) is going to heaven, I don’t want to be there.

I had the yearly PET scan today.

For those who are not familiar, the cancer "victim" is injected with radioactive contrast that seeks rapidly changing cells, like cancer, infections, kidney problems, etc. The injection happens one hour before the scan...you have to lie in a dark room for it to get through your body, you are then taken to the PET scanner which looks similar to a CT scanner (doughnut shape/hard table), but you are velcroed into a straightjacket-type thing and have to lie there without moving for over an hour. The radioactive contrast shows as a bright spot on the scan when it has found the bad parts.

Long story short, I was there (at the Cancer Center) from 9 a.m. through 11:45 a.m.

I am now radio active for 24 hours and should not be near children or pets...

They also give you a card, that explains your ability to set off alarms at airports and electronically secured buildings for Homeland Security.

The scan was not the hard part...the injection was not the hard part...the constant "how wonderful am I" from the technician was intolerable.

It all started with introducing herself and telling me that she prayed for HERSELF everyday to give her the strength she needs to see the positive scans of the patients (victims), therefore changing their lives forever, and not get depressed. Note that she did not pray for the victims...just herself.

She told me how she had talked with an HR person (who by the way knew nothing about medical stuff although she worked in Human Resources at a local hospital)...anyway, the HR person was astounded by the outstanding work and and importance of this nuclear technician.

She then told me how God had saved her from childhood illness so that she could do this wonderful Nuclear Medicine later in life.

She interned in Pittsburgh and dined with medical students that were not educated properly.

She knew of people who thought they knew everything.

She herself knew enough to be dangerous (that’s a quote).

God gave her a stepson, so that he could have the opportunity to have a wonderful Mom like her.

I eventually tuned her out...and when she said, "OK, you are done," I almost said, "finished," but held it back and mustered "good."

I got up shaking and a bit disoriented, after having not eaten and had little sleep, but I am so very happy to be out of there.

On the surface...getting an injection and laying on a table seems like a piece of cake...it is the stress of knowing that there will most likely be glowing spots (cancers) on the scan that need attention...it is the stress of lying there rigid and tied down and thinking of everything that could possibly be wrong with you, I could go on and on about the stress involved.

I won’t know the outcome until next Thursday.

And finally, the fabulous Nuclear Technician completely forgot to give me the card for Homeland Security....Stay away...I am glowing!

Note from Jeanne: I've gotten numerous PET scans over the years, and no one has ever told me to stay away from pets and kids--they just tell me to drink lots of water. All this time, and I never knew I was radioactive after the scan! I've also never been offered the card for Homeland Security purposes.

Comments

[Carver]

Hi Jeanne,

I've had eight PET/CT, 6 were at a university hospital, 2 at a home hospital more convenient to me. I have never been told about staying away from young children or received the homeland security card. However, I've heard that people who are in NYC have been followed at a Port Authority station by someone that registered the radioactivity but the official said, did you just have a PET scan, they said yes and handed them a card from the hospital. I've also heard cancer patients on military bases have to go through something special after PET scans. This is all from people chatting on a support group site and it did make me wonder why I never got any information about those issues when I was scanned.

Take care, Carver

[Nat]

I had one PET scan. They told me to stay away from children for 8 hours or so. They did not tell me to stay away from pets. That would seem to be an obvious conclusion if you are told to stay away from children, but I never connected those dots! (chemo brain...) ;)
I hope my cats are alright.
They did not give me a card for homeland security.

[faa]

Interesting post. I used to take stress medications too. Then i followed the tips at this webbie (http://www.howtorelievestress.org) , and now i can manage my stress level better. My condition has defintely improved. Might want to give it a shot.

[MaryM]

Ugh - I can just imagine having to listen to that annoying chatter.

[amy]

My husband has PETs every three months, and while he doesn't love them, mostly it's because the outcome is so potentially scary. (He's in remission but the chances are high he won't stay there.) He has never stayed away from our kids after or been told to do so. What a stressful situation for your correspondent.

[jeanne]

Thanks, everyone. I've been getting PETs going back nine years now, and, as I said, no one ever warned me. They just said to drink lots of water to flush the tracer out of my system. I'll probably be getting another one in the next month or two and I will be sure to ask all these questions.

So far, the worst thing that has happened to me during a PET--besides the worrying, I'm with Amy on that one--is being parked on a guerney in a hallway during the hour wait after getting the tracer and before the scan.

All sorts of people were passing by, and boy did I feel like a piece of meat!

This was at the University of Washington Medical Center. The reason for leaving me in the hallway, they said, is that the rooms were all full. You gotta wonder.

Oh, and one other time, the staff hadn't gotten approval from my insurance before I came in for the PET, and they wanted me to have it anyway and also sign a piece of paper saying I would be responsible for the bill. It was more than $3,000 at that time, several years ago.

I said no, and made them reschedule me.

Jeanne

[Laurie]

Ugh! Don't healthcare workers in these positions get any training about communication and boundaries? I think the behavior of this "PET scan lady" is outrageous. (Of course I know, partly from personal experience and mostly from hearing Jeanne's stories over the years, that medical personnel say insensitive (however well-intentioned) things to patients with some regularity.) I like to fantasize that there's a professor of medicine out there somewhere who collects these stories and uses them to teach students what this kind of experience feels like to patients.

[kat]

I've only had 2 PET scans but I have never been told anything not even to drink lots of water. Nothing about being radioactive. I was only asked if I am allergic to shellfish.(I have been radioactive from plaque radiation therapy.) ick.
the wait was only 45 min. here's the really good part, the scanner in my part of the world travels around in a semi truck sort of thing. so they do your top 1/2 first- 25min. slideout, sit up and turn around and they do your bottom 1/2. this is much better than lying in the tube for an hour, which as a claustrophobe they would have to sedate me for. Our techs have always been very solicitous and kind. I am so sorry to hear others have such a terrible expierence. Sounds like my MRI nightmares. I have a friend who can actually sleep thru her scans! lucky girl.

[jeanne]

Kat--I can't do MRIs in the traditional machine either--I've had meltdowns twice when I tried and had to abort the procedure for the day. Then I got open-sided MRIs, which were great for me but the images are not as good. Now there is a bigger machine where you are in a doughnut rather than in a tight tube, and I can do those. So ask around to see what kind of machines are available in your area. No one at my cancer center (which only had the conventional one) told me about the open-sided MRI place, because then they didn't get paid for that scan.

Jeanne