Waiting for test results from CT, PET, or MRI scans leads cancer patients and their families to feel anxiety. This led to the coinage of “scanxiety,” a familiar term to many cancer patients.
Hold on. What if I assume that the upcoming scan results will provide good news, such as “my cancer is still receding,” “my cancer is still in remission,” or “my cancer is no longer detectable?” Wouldn’t that assumption help me stay calm, and suggest a newly-minted word such as “scanquility?”
My latest scan, an MRI, occurred last Wednesday before Thanksgiving Day. It will provide high-resolution pictures of my lower back and pelvis to double check a dagger-shaped hot spot which appeared in my last PET scan. Now is the opportunity to experience scanquility, without the nagging thought that I’m in denial. The chance of actually finding a new melanoma lesion in my lower back is remote, but not so remote that doctor would forego the test.
I am thankful that he is thorough.
So I’m practicing scanquility. Next Monday, we will meet with Doctor Curti and get objective evidence about whether anxiety or calm is the more appropriate emotional response for this test.
Post Script: Monday November 30, 2015
Doctor Curti reports that that the lumbar MRI shows nothing that would indicate melanoma is present in the region where the hot spot was seen, nor anywhere else in the lumbar region. That means I’m still STABLE, and continuing with watchful waiting for three months!
Here’s the thing: Expecting a positive result saves a lot of energy that would be spent on anxiety, while apparently costing/risking nothing more than an unlikely disappointment.