Thursday, May 8, 2014

MUGA scan

Dr. Laudi wants me to go on another chemo while I wait for my biopsy results.  I got Adriamycin or Doxorubicin (same drug with different names) while I was pregnant with Olivia and I went into my first remission.  With increased exposure, these drugs are toxic to the heart, so there is a lifetime max that a person can get.  I haven't reached my max yet.  When mixed with lipids (fats) the drug is encapsulated and thought to be carried deeper into tumor cells, while reducing some of the toxicity of the drug to those innocent bystander cells.  Since this drug can damage my heart,  I am having a MUGA (mulitgated aquisition) scan to get a baseline of my ventricle functioning.

  Here is the History form they gave me to fill out.  I had to laugh!  I don't think I have ever been asked for my bra size on a medical form before and I have filled out a lot of these things. 


Here is my view while I wait for the IV team to put in a peripheral IV.


Basically, I get an IV.  They take 4 ml of blood.  The blood is mixed with some radioactive stuff for half an hour, then the blood is pushed back in.  A set of images is taken to visualize the blood flow in the lower part of my heart.  The images are taken over 15 minutes for each of 3 views.  An EKG machine is also used during the imaging.

All this cardiac stuff makes me think of hearts and love and such. 
A hearty quote:

"Piglet noticed that even though he had a Very Small Heart,
 it could hold a rather large amount of gratitude."   -A.A. Milne

All a person really needs to know.


1 comment:

  1. I hope it all goes well. Lots of work to just try to stay healthy!

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