Mugga and PFT

Hmm, had my Muga and PFT thingy today.

Muga -At a high level, the MUGA test involves the introduction of a radioactive marker into the bloodstream of the patient. The patient is subsequently scanned to determine the circulation dynamics of the marker, and hence the blood. The patient is placed under a gamma camera, which detects the low-level gamma radiation being given off. As the gamma camera images are acquired, the patient's heart beat is used to 'gate' the acquisition. The final result is a series of images of the heart (usually sixteen)

The Muga was quite a curious sensation. The injection fills you with some kind of nuclear medicine to determine whether the heart's ventricles are healthy. He told me it would feel kind of warm, but he didn't warn me that certain areas would feel warmer than others. I had a horrible sensation of having wet myself! I could feel hotness flooding through my .... well, you can guess what part can't you?! I was put under a Gamma Camera and then the staff all vanished behind a little screen for a few minutes while I twiddled my thumbs. I've heard that there's some kind of alarm that you set off if you go through the American border within a few days of having had this test but I didn't get to find out, although Matt's seen someone else set off a big alarm there and hoards of Police appeared from nowhere and swarmed the car. That would have been quite exciting, but only worth doing if it was going to be hoards of Firemen, in my opinion!

The PFT was more activity based and involved me sitting in some sealed glass cupboard, with a clip over my nose and a tube in my mouth. I was instructed to take as big a breath as I could while they measured something and also had to do some strange panting dog thing with the Doctor cheering me on like some strange kind of manic dog trainer! Most peculiar. I left with a piece of paper, which didn't say very much except 50% which didn't sound very good. This test is so that my Oncologist will know if I'm ok to take the Nilotinib, which I want, so I'm hoping to pass. 50% didn't sound like a pass to me, but Matt looked it up - apparantly 50% is normal. Hooray for a C grade!

Double Booking

I have been double booked! Not in the exciting, "woohoo, I have two party invites for the same day, ooh, which to choose?" type excitement. No, it seems I am wanted at two different hospitals at the same time for a varied selection of investigative probings and exams - NOT really the same thing at all. Though some people probably get excited about probings and examinations, sadly; I am not one of them.

I have to be at The Toronto Western Hospital on 8th December at 11am for a Portal Vein Doplar (something sonic echoey a bit like whales talking to each other?) and an Ultrasound (to see my bouncing not-a-baby liver) AND I have to be at Mount Sinai Hospital at 8:30am for a PFT (Pretty Fucking Traumatic test?) followed by a 10:15 Mugga injection and scan. How amazing. You wait all year, trying to avoid invasive and stressfull examinations and suddenly three come along at once!

I'm not sure what these tests involve so far but I'm pretty sure I'll have to re-schedule some of them. The PFT is a lung check and the Mugga jobby is a nuclear medicine test with a gamma camera, so I might be glowing in the dark after that one, which will be useful next time I can't sleep and have to get up at four in the morning - at least I will be able to see my way down the stairs in the dark! They're both checks that need to be done if I'm going to start the Tasigna/Nilotinib.

The Portal Vein Doplar and Ultrasound are both checks on my liver, which hopefully don't involve the stabbing of long needles as used the last time a Doctor showed interest in my liver. The walk between the two hospitals takes 22 minutes according to Google Map (so nice that it gives me walking directions as well as driving) so I'm guessing I'll have to defer the portal vein doplar test at Toronto Western.