Friday, April 11, 2008

Metaiodobenzylguanadine

Metaiodobenzylguanadine (MIBG). Wow, I have been in this game way too long when I can not only spell the word correctly but I can also pronounce it without stammering. Ironically, I still can't read one of the darn things. It always looks to me like her abdomen is chock full of disease. I simply do not know enough about anatomy and what sucks up MIBG. All I know is that a lot of it is sucked up and, to me, it must be disease. The good news is that I did not see anything lighting up on her arms - that much a feel pretty secure about. So, if this test was to see if the spot in her arm was now large enough and active enough to be detected by MIBG (which it was) then I think we will receive a good report because nothing was there. However, if this scan was to see if a bunch of tumor was floating around in her heart and her belly, then she is completely riddled with disease. (Please, don't be alarmed! I am incapable of reading an MIBG scan in the abdomen.)

As you might imagine, I was pretty pleased with yesterday's little scan. Sydney stayed perfectly still for the 45 minute nuclear lashing and seemed quite happy about it. After the excitement, I rushed her back to school where she spent the remainder of the day engaged in the rigors of learning. I had the opportunity to spend the remainder of the day working diligently. That was a good thing as I had a bunch of last minute items to get to Erik Ludwinski's family for their Lunch for Life dream vacation to Walt Disney World. One could say that the last minute rush was unnecessary and that I should have been more prepared. I would say - "What would be the fun in that?" Our lives have been infused with chaos permanently so a little last minute hustle is just like icing on the cake. It takes much more than that to get the blood boiling.

We spent our evening, as usual, out in the back yard. It was the perfect evening. Unfortunately, Lynley and I were stuck removing several inches of oak pollen from the top of our deck and the bottom of the pool. With five tornadoes in the area the night before there was plenty of cleaning to be done. Regardless, everyone chipped in and it was not long before we had filled a 90 gallon waste cart with the sniffle causing stuff. The kids got to swing on the swing set. Graham and I got to play a little catch with the baseball. I even got treated to a steak dinner by my blushing bride - I just love when Kroger has a special on ribeyes ($4.99/lb - get 'em while they last!)

All in all, it was a pretty good day on the Daddy scale.

Which, by definition, is pretty high on the purpose scale too.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Great news on Sydney's arm on MIBG--and good idea to leave it to radiologists to sort through the abdomen! Thanks for all you have done (overnight arrived!) to make Erik's trip a reality in the midst of your dizzying rollercoaster life Mark! Thanks for all you are doing for ALL our kids. You are a blessing!

Anonymous said...

I came across your website by accident. I'm a Nuclear Medicine Supervisor at a children's hospital in Florida. I've followed many of our neuroblastoma patient's blogs and am always amazed to see how strong these children are that are fighting this tough disease. Your blog is full of many wonderful stories and I was glad to hear that Sydney made it throught the MIBG scan so well (it is a long scan to stay still through); you should be proud. Keep up the great work in your Neuroblastoma foundation. Many of our patients rely on groups like yours for the answers they need. Glad to see that someone can spell MIBG (I still have trouble with it. :-) ) Take care and wish Syndey my best, Diana