Echo and PET scan

When the radiologist explained to me that an echocardiogram is an ultra-sound test of the heart, I was relieved. I had seen my wife receive an ultra-sound when she was pregnant and it looked painless, easy and even a little exciting because I could watch the monitor displaying my heart. Everything was going fine until the technician decided I should also get a bubble test. So, we moved on from the safety of a simple ultra-sound wand to the pain of injecting a large IV needle and flushing it out with lots of saline. I was not happy about that, but the test was successful and I walked out feeling confident that my heart was healthy.

Later in the afternoon, I went to another office where I would get my PET scan. If you are not familiar with this process, it is a whole body scan in a long tubular CT scan machine. Before heading into the tube though, I had to get another IV injection. But this is no ordinary injection. The juice is a radioactive compound that will be soaked up by any cancerous cells and glow a bright color when scanned by the CT machine. This helps the oncologist determine where in my body the cancer is present. The whole test lasts about an hour and a half and is completely painless. The only uncomfortable part is the "banana smoothie" I am given to coat my stomach. If a smoothie shop started serving banana smoothies that taste like that piece of crap they would quickly go out of business.