The PET Scan, "Laughter Is The Best Medicine"

"So many tangles in life are ultimately hopeless that we have no appropriate sword other than laughter." ~Gordon W. Allport

 Steve, Marcia and I showed up at St Luke's Global for a PET Scan and CT Scan. These tests reveal more detail of the lesions in my lungs and determine if there are lesions anywhere else. Filipino people are so sweet and service oriented that I felt like the Queen that Marcia assures me that I am. Steve had to go get some paper work so Mar went back with me. After I put on the "gown" which consisted of pull on bottoms with a draw string and a wrap around top with ties we realized how cute and comfortable they were. So Marcia being Marcia asked if we can buy some. Filipino people will not tell you no so of course he said we could and he would find out how much they were. We bought 2 for me and 1 for Marcia. We decided that we would wear them to the going away party. We tried to talk Steve and Jeff into getting some as well but, the boys being "the boys" respectfully declined. The techs all look they are 12 years old but I have never had a blood draw or IV that was completely painless until now. After the IV for the chaser was in the tech said that I must restrict my talking for one hour. Yeah like that is even remotely happening with Marcia and I in the same room. Marcia, "Really, you expect us to not talk. For a whole HOUR. Have you not been here for the last 30 minutes and observed our interaction? Sorry, but it isn't going to happen! Explain to me why." Tech, "The chaser that we just injected follows the blood vessels to mark the way for the dye and it collects in the most active vessels. So if you talk a lot your mouth will glow. Please don't stress your mouth!" After we got up from the floor where we both fell from laughing so hard, Marcia had a great idea. She is a translator for the deaf and since I have always wanted to learn sign she decided to teach me. My first phrase--Don't stress your mouth. We then proceeded to give people we know their sign (name.) When friends are signing about people they know they pick a word that they associate with the person followed by the first letter of their name. We came up with some pretty silly "signs" for people. She taught me some pretty great stuff. The silence was often interrupted by bouts of hysterical loud laughter, but I did not speak. We figured laughing was OK because it would make the markers collect in my lungs where the cancer is anyway. The lesions lit up like a Christmas tree! I will cherish the fun time we had. The two of us in that little room, sharing, caring and just being together. We waited the hour to let the chaser circulate then off to the scanner. It only took 40 minutes. As I was walking out I asked if I could speak. He said I could I told him I had been a good girl and not talked for the whole hour, but there had been some uncontrollable laughter. He grinned at me and said, "Yeah, we heard!"