PET Scan Results!! Good News!!!

Hey everybody....it is a GREAT day!!!! Morgan is now cancer-free!!!

Yesterday, Morgan had to go without any sugar or caffeine for about 18 hours before her scan.  We arrived at 9:30 am and once they checked her blood sugar levels, Morgan had to drink a large glass of lemon Crystal Light with iodine...yummy!!!  I even got a sip to see how great it tastes...NOT!  While she was drinking away, they inserted an IV into her arm.

Then, as the technician calls it, Morgan got to go into "Time Out."  This is a small room with a comfy laid-back chair, in which she gets to just lay there and rest for about an hour after getting an injection of a Radioactive Isotope.  I wanted to get a picture of her in the room, so I had to hurry before the shot because they didn't want me to come in contact with the radioactive waves she would be emitting..j/k.

When I saw the picture...I just knew I had to share, because this is just typical Morgan style.  But I made her smile and give me a nice shot to share too!  (We really weren't trying to kill her in the back room, however this treatment would make her light up and not get through any airport security scanner!)

Once I left the "time out" room, she got the injection and turned on her ipod to relax for a little bit over an hour.  Then they took her into another room with the CT Scanner, turned the music up really loud (she burned her own cd with a "PET Scan Mix"), and got strapped in for the ride.  The scan lasted about 30 minutes and then they gave her the IV solution and she had a chest CT in the same machine.

By the time she came wandering out into the waiting room...she was a little dazed and confused.  Last time they had let me go into the scanning room with her.  I remember she was very wobbly trying to get re-dressed so I really wonder how she made it this time.  She was starving since she hadn't really eaten for 24 hours so we grabbed a taco at Taco Time with Kaylee and she went home to sleep it off!!  Now the waiting began....

We went into Dr. Beck's office on Wednesday at 3:30 to get the results.  Some of you may now recognize our doctor as she was on KSL Channel 5 News the other night in the story about Utah Attorney General, Mark Shurtleff and his fight with colon cancer. 

At first, we weren't sure what to expect because Dr. Beck's demeanor was a bit deceiving.  Finally, she started talking about the CT scan and said that it was.....fine. (just like that with the big pause and no emotional whoopee!)   Of course we all gave a little scream.  Then she went to the PET scan and said that it all looked....normal.  (again like it was exactly what we were expecting...)  Johnny was on the speaker phone and Dr. Beck told him we were dancing around like Mexican Jumping Beans!!!  p.s.  there was a little bit of "uptake" in her nasal region, but that was due to her stuffy nose...;D

This is the GREATEST news!!!  Some of you don't know many of the details, but we were told that if the cancer had spread to anywhere away from the breast and internal mammary node areas, then it would be basically incurable.  We would do everything we could to prolong and sustain her life, but that it would eventually take her. 

It has been a long and arduous journey.  We don't take any moments we have for granted.  Morgan and I have a relationship that has grown leaps and bounds.  I wouldn't recommend anyone have to go through this, but there have definitely been some wonderful blessings poured out among us.  We have just the best time together and we ARE together....all the time it seems!  I wouldn't trade that part for anything! 

So tomorrow we have a couple of doctor's appointments to go to, and then a family dinner with her dad.  Hopefully we can all get a good night's rest before our new leg of the journey begins.  We won't know the exact time of her surgery until Thursday afternoon, but we will be at Huntsman Medical Center for at least two to three nights.  Morgan is so cute.  When she had her surgery at Primary Children's Medical Center for her Adrenal Tumor, I had them trade out the crib for a twin-size bed because it was easier for me to keep her in the bed and not all twisted up in all of the tubing if I just laid in the bed and slept with her each night.  So, she told me that is what she wants me to do this weekend.....we'll see.  She may want the whole bed to herself with no one even touching her after this surgery is over!  I'll keep you posted!  I'll probably get kicked to the couch!