Preliminary Report: No Growth!

We're still waiting for the final report, but the preliminary report from my scan today is that nothing grew.  Yippee! It's been five months since chemo ended, and nothing has grown.

It was a pretty long day.  I am glad Lou was there.

Yesterday I talked to my clinical trial nurse to find out if I really needed oral contrast. She said that I had to be ready to request the oral contrast (in addition to the intravenous contrast) if the radiology department did not offer it to me. My nurse explained that the people running the clinical trial required oral contrast and that they had been dissatisfied with the January scan because there was no oral contrast.

Well, I love Duke, but gosh, today the people in radiology were very dismissive at first.  When I said that I had been told that I needed oral contrast, more than one person just said, "No you don't," and would not even listen to me. Finally I planted myself in front of the nurse's desk and explained that the clinical trial required the oral contrast. The nurse in charge launched into what was clearly going to be a long lecture on why oral contrast is no longer used at Duke. Grrrr. I said that I wasn't going to argue about it, that I had been told very adamantly that I must have the oral contrast, and that if they didn't agree they were going to have to work it out with my doctor.

Okay, so my voice got a little quivery and I relied again on chemo pity, but after that they were very nice and eventually I got two big cups of some disgusting stuff to drink.  Nothing like having to argue and fight for something that I knew was going to gross me out.


(My hair is almost grown back to the point where I won't get any more chemo pity, but I think it is something that I can live without.)

Anyway, it was well worth the effort because the scan looks good, nothing has grown, I get to stay on the clinical trial, and I won't even have to think about oral contrast for another eight weeks!