My blog is an autobiographical account of changes in my life from 2004 to the present. It's rich in principles from the Christian faith. It's charismatic. I am writing about how God is walking with me through my experience with carcinoid cancer. Also, I have had Sjogren's Syndrome, an autoimmune disorder, for over 25 years. Join me on my Journey.
Quote for October
For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom His whole family in heaven derives its name. I pray that out of His glorious riches He may strengthen you with power through His Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge--that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen!
Friday, March 28, 2014
My Cancer is Gone!
Dr. Wolin had to patiently explain to me why my positive tests for Chromagranin A and and Gastrin in the past were not valid. I had been on Nexium,which raises those compounds in the blood. Also, they did not keep going up and up, as they would if a tumor kept growing.Dr. Wolin did test me for other cancer markers like calcitonin, pancreastatin, and glucagon--which can be made by duodenal carcinoid tumors.
I am still trying to wrap my head around this! I will write more in April.
Thursday, March 6, 2014
I had a GALLIUM-68 Dotatoc PET/CT!
In an earlier post I had written about going to Dr. Oberg at Uppsala University Hospital in Uppsala, Sweden. That is not necessary because this scan works the same way. The only difference is in the radioactive element used to make the tumors light up.
When I got to the Nuclear Medicine Center, I filled out paperwork (as usual) and then went back to talk to Dr. Schiepers, the radiologist. He has worked at one of the German treatment centers that does PRRT and has helped over 3000 patients. He is a kind man who explained to me that the Gallium-68 scan can be done in a PET scanner because they used gallium, rather than the indium-111 used in an Octreoscan . I wondered why Octreoscans had a special scanner. So with the new scan, the PET and CT scans are overlapped to give a 3-D image.
The Gallium-68 scan is easy! I had the IV of the radioactive Dotatoc; drank 2 cups of berry flavored barium in an hour; and followed the technician back to the scanner. I got one more cup of barium, and we did the scan. The time for the CT was about 7 minutes, and the PET was about 25 minutes. Piece of cake! I was thanking everyone because I have waited for a scan that would find my tumor since 2009. It seemed to shrink after I began Octreotide treatment.
One new thing I know after going to Dr. Wolin, is that I have been on too much Octreotide! It has caused the weakness and some of the diarrhea I have had. I won't be doing any more rescue shots.