Another Round of Scans

I'm back in New York for more scans and tests. I had a PET scan and chest CT done today. On tap tomorrow are follow-ups with a dermatologist (another mole exam!) and the rehab doctor who oversaw my physical therapy, and more tests. There's an EKG and echocardiogram to test heart function, and a pulmonary function test to check lung function. These were ordered by the long term team, who I will be seeing Wednesday morning. Then there's a follow up with the radiation oncologist, and that evening, I fly back west.

I feel like there's a lot at stake here. If all goes well, my follow up frequency will decrease, as I'd mentioned before, but these feelings are coming elsewhere. This being the "official" one year mark has something to do with it, certainly. Emphasizing a particular date tends to increase its significance for me. There's more, though. On my last chest X-Ray, the radiologist thought, though he wasn't sure, that the lower lobe of my right lung wasn't fully inflating. I think it was nothing more than me letting some air out prematurely during the X-Ray - I'm always asked to take a deep breath and hold it while it's being taken - but I can recall letting a little bit of air out early last time. Still, he didn't rule out "early infiltrates" - i.e. something in there keeping the lung from fully inflating - so that had me wondering in the back of my mind if something could be brewing. My doctors at Sloan didn't think it was anything to worry about, though, and hopefully that's confirmed tomorrow. I'm coming in first thing in the morning to hear the results before my big battery of follow-ups and tests.