Glowing in the Dark? - 17th December

Hi again,

This is being written in the Koru lounge at Sydney Airport. God Bless the ADHB, we have a Business Class ride back to Auckland in a couple of hours (seat 1A and 1B no less!). The check-in guy rightly pointed out that "any further forward, and you'd be having to fly the plane yourself!"

The PET scan went perfectly well as far as I can tell. I even have a souvenir CD of the images (I think it is actually for the Drs back in Auckland). It was pretty much like having a CT scan, other than the radiactive stuff injected an hour before the scan.

We stayed just along the road from the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, so everything was very straightforward regarding getting to and from. Yesterday, once we were checked into the hotel, we caught a local bus into the CBD (only 3km) and had a bit of a wander around some shops - including the lovely old Queen Victoria Building shopping 'mall'. Then we jumped onto the monorail and went down to Darling Harbour. Had some dinner. Hoped onto the monorail again for another lap and took in the sights. Back to the hotel and a reasonable sleep in preparation for today. Nil per mouth for me in preperation for scan.

Had a classic Sydney taxi driver for the trip back to the airport. He was a classic bush politician, know-it-all, brash character who was good fun. The Koru lounge was a very pleasant surprise for us, and a very welcome one (says Jeanette!).

We arrive home tonight at 11:30 NZ time, and I have the CT-guided leg biopsy tomorrow at 1:00 in the afternoon (after another pre-treatment fast - always interesting in terms of managing my diabetes!).

Apparently once the results of the biopsy plus the PET scan are collated, the information picture will be very complete. It sounds as though there is still some question as to whether what was seen on the last MRI was indeed cancer cells, or residual damaged cells left over or maybe evidence of infection. It will be good to get the definitive answer so they know what treatment is appropriate.

Thanks again for your interest and support and prayers etc

Cheers
Bruce
bbremner@ihug.co.nz