The final scan before commencing treatment was a Whole Body Scan. This took place at the Department of Nuclear Medicine at Southampton General Hospital. This would involve being injected with a small amount of radioctive material, then spending the next three hours drinking copious amounts of water whilst waiting for the material to settle into my bones.
As usual I arrived early at the hospital and was fortunate to be called in to start the procedure early. Perhaps I could save some money off the car parking charges, which are very expensive. The hospital uses the parking fees to maintain the car park with any surplus going to patient services, whatever that means. For those, who have a long term illness, requiring frequent visits to the hospital, a valuable patient service might be having to pay less to park their car.
Meanwhile, back in Nuclear Medicine, I was being prepared for the input of radioactive material – via a canula. I looked around me. Just one nurse. “Are you alone?” I asked.
“Yes”, she replied. “Why?”
“Just wondering if there was going to be a trainee this time”, I said.
“Not today”, she replied, making me feel much more relaxed.
After looking at both my arms, which were covered in bruises and scratches from previous encounters with needles etc., she decide to insert the canula into the back of my left hand, giving the usual warning, “you may feel a scratch”. Why do they say scratch instead of prick? The definition of prick is more suitable. Well, one definition is.
“I’ve felt a scratch in almost every department in the hospital”, just doesn’t have the right ring to it.
Canula in, radioactive material in, canula out. All within a few minutes. I was now free to roam the hospital for the next three hours, as long as I drank lots of water. If I needed a pee, I had to flush the toilet twice to avoid leaving contamination. Radioactive pee!!
I made good use of the time by seeking out people who may be able to address some concerns I had about the treatment I was going to be receiving. Particularly the hormone therapy, which has many potential side effects. None of which are particularly appealing. I was fortunate to be able to have a chat with one of the research team for the clinical trial I have signed up for. She was very helpful in answering some of my questions and arranging for someone to phone me with the answers she could not provide. How wonderful these people are.
I then popped into the Macmillan Centre for a coffee and a chat. Free coffee and biscuits plus a wealth of information is available for people suffering from cancer. There is lots of support around if you need it.
Time to go back to the Nuclear Medicine Department for my scan. The scan itself was a slow process and the staff were chatting to me about various things they could see as the imaging was taking place. They could see that I probably suffered pain in my hands, wrists and elbows. Also that I had previously suffered a back injury and broken ribs. My poor old bones had suffered a bit over the years.
Finally all the tests and scans were done and soon my treatment would begin.
Living With Prostate Cancer 