Yeah, okay, I know. I haven’t been real good at keeping up, but I’m back now.

Where do I begin again?

Dante’s home...you probably already know that. He’s doing very well. Jenn and I brought him to church this morning (his first time out). The doctors and nurses told us to make sure that he doesn’t get held by lots of people. He’s still a premature baby, and his immune system isn’t quite up to speed, so if he were to catch a cold it could become a lot worse. Not to mention that if he gets sick, then I get sick... and with all this chemo crap whoppin’ my body, I’d be down for the count. So we’ve been pretty protective of him and his exposure. We’ve had a few visitors to the house... and other than going to church today, we haven’t really gone out anywhere. Which ain’t too bad, ‘cause its cold out there!

The latest session of chemo really beat me up. I can honestly say that I still feel some side effects even to today. I’m starting to get a little scared about the next session (which is this Friday, the 16th). The side effects hit you more and more as the sessions go on, and if this one is worse than the last one then I ain’t gonna be very happy. I really don’t know how I will be able to handle the typical 2 am wake up calls that a newborn loves to give you (and Dante LOVES to give ‘em). I’ll really be leaning on Jenn from here on out.

I will be at Dana Farber this Tuesday (the 13th) for my first PET scan. Most people have heard of CAT scans and MRI’s and the like, but if you are like me (handsome, smooth, and loved by the ladies) you probably never heard of a PET scan. I thought it was a bit funny that its called a “pet scan”... ‘cause there are “cat scans”.. and those are pets... kind of ironic... but I guess, not funny. Anyways-

The PET scan, which stands for Positron Emission Tomography, is basically a full body scan that looks at your organs and the like. Its a bit different than a CAT scan insofar as it involves nuclear science as well. Yeah, you heard me... nuclear. Now, whether you say it like a normal person or like nitwit George W. Bush says it, nuclear is still a pretty scary word. I know that when I hear the word “nuclear” I think of all sorts of stuff: bombs, power plants, and The Incredible Hulk.

When I go in for this scan on Tuesday, the first thing they will do will be to take some blood (needless to say that at this point if there was a Blood Giving sport at the Olympics, I would win gold). This time they’ll be looking at my glucose level, because the radioactive elements are mixed in with glucose and then injected into my veins before the scan.

Oh, yeah... I went there.

Funny that I should think of the Incredible Hulk... eh?

But yeah, yours truly will be “Radioactive Man” for at least a little while anyways. The radioactive element (called a “tracer”) will be running through my body into lymphnodes and stuff and the PET scan will be taking pictures of it all. Some interesting points: I have to remain in an isolated room alone for 1 hour before the scan after receiving the injection, everybody around me will be dressed in those radiation suits (like in E.T.), and I’m not clear about the whole turning into a bulging, green Lou Ferrigno thing yet... I’ll be talking to the nuclear medicine people about that.

You wouldn’t like me when I’m angry...

The big, serious question I have is about after the scan. Some people have told me it wouldn’t be a problem, but some people told me it might... being around and holding my son. The radioactive crap they put in you has a pretty short life-span, but they take so many damn precautions that you never really know. I’ll be speaking with them about it Tuesday morning. If there is even a hint of hesitation to be around a newborn, I’ll be crashing at Mom’s that night... and Jenn will have to deal with the 2 am and 4 am crying wake-ups on her own.

Then again, I might just tell her that the doctors told me that I should stay at my Mom’s.

Heh.

Jenn, if you are reading this, I really think we’re better off with me staying at Mom’s. Its really for the best... we should be safe than sorry.

Sweet... I’m so getting a good night sleep!

The results from the PET scan will give my oncologist an idea of how the chemotherapy is battling the cancer. These scans are much more sensitive towards the detection of tumors and cancers and stuff. I never had a PET scan before my diagnosis, so there isn’t anything to directly compare it with, but I suspect my doctor will look at my CAT scans from before to get a good picture. The PET scan will also help to see if the cancer has spread anywhere else... lymphoma can spread throughout the lymphnodes and can also spread into bone marrow... when a cancer spreads to another area, its called “metastasizing”... and its one of the worst words a cancer patient could hear.

The other purpose of the PET scan is to compare it with another PET scan that I will have upon completion of my treatment (which, for me, seems like years from now). This will be the true comparison of how all these treatments went down. Thats when I’ll start to hear things like: “Your cancer is gone.” “Your body looks great.” “Drinks are on me.”