PET, CAT, and MRI's

Two years I had no idea what these initials stood for.

Today I have no further enlightenment. My own choice, I assure you. There is a limit to the amount of medical terms you want to know about, I've discovered. :-)

Unless you like medical terms, then I'm sure you want to know what these mean.

I, for one, am content to let my knowledge end with experiencing them.

Though sometimes, in moments where my mind wanders, I do wonder if the person who named them liked pets or especially cats, and made the initials like that on purpose, but that is as far as I will go.

And MRI's.... All I can think about when I hear about an MRI is a story where a metal i.v. stand got into a room while an MRI was on and flew out of the nurses hands directly towards the machine. The results were not at all comforting and very sad.

At my one and only MRI I prayed that if I had to die it would be from natural causes and not a metal i.v. stand. Seriously, I did.

I will probably repeat this prayer several times in the future.

Why are these initials on my mind?

I have a date with one of them the end of this month.

At first it was the PET/CAT.

But you see, I've had about 6, possibly 7 dates with Petcat already.

He is amazing at seeing right through you, probably better than any man around. :-)

Not to mention that the drink he gives me lights my innards like a christmas tree - the downside is that it tastes like I would imagine Windex tastes.

I might have said that before.

However, after so many dates I decided to investigate Petcat.

I was a tad uneasy about my findings.

He is good at seeing the "real you".

However, the Chicago Tribune mentioned in a recent article that of the 70million (I'm not the only one receiving his attention, obviously:-) people having dates with Petcat, he will be responsible for 29,000 new cancers.

29,000! That is a tad bit disconcerting.

I decided that maybe I'd better be cautious about the future contact I had with Petcat when I read several other articles stating much the same thing.

Plus the fact that Mr. Petcat gives you at least 500x the radiation in your body that a normal x-ray does. Just a little fun fact.

Oh, and you receive more radiation from one petcat than you do all year working in a nuclear plant.

And that radiation never leaves your body. I'm told that a 100 years after I die my body will still be glowing. Not sure what to think about that fact.

Now, I hate to rock the boat. I'd rather just be that person who does whatever their dr. says.

I'm learning to be my own advocate, though.

I reasoned that continuing to have dates with Petcat might be detrimental to my health.

With bated breath I called my oncologist and requested a cancellation.

I'm not trying to be difficult.

I want my tumor monitored as much as anyone.

Well, maybe not as much as my husband, but I really want to know what is going on.

Except on the days I'm afraid it's growing...

I'd rather be in denial - that's just how I work. What you don't see isn't real.

My oncologist was very understanding.

He may think I'm crazy, but he doesn't let me know to my face. :-)

Now I have a date with the MRI.

I'm not as worried about him.

Well.... cept for the metal i.v. stand. :-)

But God's got it covered - I'm sure.

Not that I won't remind Him before I go in to have only plastic in the room.

I'll let you know how it goes.