Do you know the difference between PET and CT scans? If not, you are lucky.
Andy had the symptoms of a TIA (ministroke) last July and part of the follow up was to do an MRI of his brain. His doctor said it didn’t show signs of a TIA, but there was one slight anomaly so she wanted him to get a full body PET scan just in case. She faxed all of the data to the people in Santa Fe and he was scheduled to get it yesterday afternoon.
Then Wednesday a gal from the imaging office asked if he had been diagnosed with cancer, had a biopsy. I told her the details again and she said Medicare wouldn’t approve it unless there was a definite diagnosis. She had tried to talk to Andy’s doctor who was out that afternoon, but she would try again yesterday morning.
She did and the upshot was Medicare would approve three CT scans — lungs, abdomen, and pelvic area — so he had those instead, at the original time. It would have been nicer to have that taken care of before he went on the pre-PET diet, but better that than hearing about it after he went down there in person. And 7 PM Wednesday another person at that office phoned to make sure Andy had been warned, don’t come down without checking that everything had been approved. We were impressed by that, it could have been a lot worse.
We understand Medicare’s point of view — it could be a false alarm — and also our doctor’s — PET scans can detect some cancers earlier than CT scans can.
Anyway, fingers crossed it is all a false alarm. Play your part well, let go of the results, but hope for the best.
As usual, we will keep you posted.
I hope the news is good. I’m waiting for an MRI scan because a tiny amount of prostate cancer was found in prostate tissue that was removed in an operation. I’m glad I don’t have the extra hassle of getting my medical treatment approved by an insurer.
It is good news. We found out today they didn’t see any traces of cancer. They suggest another brain MRI in three to six months to see what, if anything, is going on there.
I have lost all faith in these modern diagnostic tools.
http://rummuser.com/my-health/
No blind faith here about those tools, but it was probably a good thing to learn about your cholesterol levels and the diabetes because you could do something about them. And it was the last X-rays that showed your frozen shoulder. As my doctor says, medicine is not a science. Sometimes one has to keep trying.
My doctor guessed my frozen shoulder right away and had me go to physical therapy first.
I guess I am lucky, I don’t know the difference. I’ve been a sheep and had many tests that didn’t prove anything, but cost a fortune and scared me for no reason.
I hope the tests turn out okay and you have no need to worry.
They turned out fine, no signs of cancer, and we had both decided not to worry about it until we had more information. He will have another brain MRI in three to six months to see what, if anything, is going on there.
Hmmm. We won’t do the test to find out if you have a problem until it’s been proven you have a problem. Sounds like government to me.
But, science has now proven that many cancer screenings cause more problems than they solve what with unnecessary surgeries, side effects of treatments, and false positives. So hanging on to that thought might help you wait.
We are well aware of the problems of cancer screening and know there are false positives as well as cases where there is cancer but watchful waiting is the best thing to do. I don’t blame Medicare for this one. They did approve the CT scans and reserve PET scans for known cancers to see how they are progressing, how treatments are working.
every comment here is spot on.
I have nothing to add.
stay away as far as you can for as long as you can. my motto!
they have wanted to do extremely invasive tests on my heart for so long.
it is already a stressed heart. common sense would tell me…
why stress it further? to see how much it can take before it QUITS?
no thanks.
We are very leery of invasive tests, too!
We’ve been lucky so far, that we’ve not had to navigate those unchartered waters of tests and medicare, etc.
But from our house, we’ll keep all paws and fingers crossed that it’s “nothing.”
Thank you! They found nothing, thank goodness, and we’re impressed we heard the results so soon.
Bad enough to have to go through all that stuff without the extra aggravation! I got tired of all this and now just take whatever I can get with Kaiser. The runaround can make you sick.
Hope all is well and nothing too serious.
They didn’t find any cancer, and the imaging office did all of the work. It would have been nice if Andy hadn’t had to go on the pre-PET diet, but we’re happy with the results and with the way they handled it. He plans to go there instead of here in town when he gets his follow-up MRI in a few months.
looks as if all is “good” and that regular followup is scheduled further down the track…
I have no idea what half the “letters” in tests mean…I just keep going with the flow.
No need to know unless you are curious. When they said they would do a CT scan instead of a PET I looked them both up to see how they differed. I think Medicare’s decision was reasonable.