The next step was getting a Pet scan to see where the cancer was exactly, how severe it was and whether it has spread anywhere else. That's Positron Emission tomography in case you were wondering.
They injected me with some radioactive stuff and glucose. Also had to drink a big bottle of a mocha flavored something or other (forgot to ask about that one) Anyway. The radioactive stuff is attached to the glucose. Cancer cells LOVE glucose. They have a sugar addiction. So once this glow in the dark stuff is injected, the Pet Scan can see in what part of your body the cells are eating the glucose greedily. Anywhere abnormal tells the docs that it's cancer.
In my case, yeah, they saw that there was an entity in my anus eating a lot of glucose. And there MAY be a teeny tiny lymph node also eating glucose which would be a sign that the cancer had spread to the lymph nodes near the tumor site...in this case, in my groin area. But the lymph node was so teeny tiny that a biopsy couldn't be done, nor could they get a clear read on it.
So the decision was to go with the idea that yeah it had spread to lymph area. That meant I was gonna get radiated in both places: backside for the entity and front side for the lymph nodes. In for a penny, in for a pound, as no one says now-a-days.
I went to see Dr. Illyass, my oncologist, on Monday to get the results of the Pet Scan. I wasn't nervous or worried. I figured the treatments had been successful.
