Am. So. Exhausted.

This one will be very brief. I made it to the hospital in time, early in fact, and was for some reason highly bemused that they actually use a lead container to carry around radioactive injections. That was the first injection I got after they put in the IV. Then I had the breast MRI, for which I did indeed have to lie on my belly on a rig that had two holes for my breasts to hang through. AT LEAST it was set up like a massage table for one's head -- a nice cushioned hole so my head was facing down and not twisted sideways. And wow, an MRI is SO LOUD! Then I had the CT scan, very quick and painless. Last was the bone scan, just had to lie on my back and try to ignore the huge metal square thingie that was about an inch from my nose (to start with, at least, until the table I was on sort of fed me out from under it). None of the injections hurt, but now I understand what a couple of people were talking about when they said the one for the CT scan makes you feel "funny"; the tech doing that one warned me about it. He said it makes you warm all over, and some people feel like they are urinating, but they aren't. It's just a huge flush to your skin, ALL OVER, including the hoo-hah area :).

I was done much more quickly than I thought and so was able to be at work by 11:30, woo-hoo! I don't know that I accomplished much today because I was so tired, but at least I will only have to claim 2.5 hours of sick time.

And the good news -- finally, yes, some good news! The good news is that I had a call from a nurse at my surgeon's office this afternoon (much sooner than expected). She told me that my CT and bone scans were completely clear of disease and/or abnormalities! Now my lymph nodes could still be involved, and that would be bad, but at least there is no sign that the cancer has spread to my major organs or skeletal system. The nurse said that I should get a call from my surgeon tomorrow or the next day with the breast MRI results.

Everyone at the Baylor facility was really just so sweet. They could not have done more to make me feel comfortable, and they got me in and out very quickly. Here's the only sucky part: right after the nuclear med tech put in my IV, she commented that I sure had a lot of scans lined up. I told her I wanted to get them all done at once so I would not miss even more work time by having to commute back and forth three times. Then she says, "Oh, you do know we're open on Saturdays, right?"

AAAAARRRRRRGGGHHH!!!!!!!!