Wednesday Dec 17, 2008 -- PET scan was taken – fascinating technology. A modified glucose molecule with radioactive fluorine (half life 110 minutes) is injected; then after a 45 minute wait the scan is taken. The fluorine when it decays emits a positron which quickly finds an electron and they annihilate each other (matter and antimatter) and emit 2 gamma ray photons 180 degrees from each other. The cancer cells preferentially take up the radioactive glucose and can’t get rid of it until the fluorine undergoes radioactive decay.

Since I understood the technology and the next patient had cancelled, I got to look at my scans. The nuclear medicine doctor pointed out the large absorption in my kidneys and urinary tract that was being eliminated and the lower but higher than background absorption from my heart and brain which use more energy than anything else while at rest. The good news was that I could clearly identify the missing primary site in my left tonsil. It helps to know where things started. More good news was that there were only 2 abnormal absorptions – the left tonsil and the already identified lymph node. No additional sites were observed. The bad news was that the probability of my doctor calling to apologize for incorrectly informing me that I had cancer now went to zero.