Pelvis MRI Delayed

Bad Timing with a New Scheduling System

Well if you recall my schedule, I was supposed to have a pelvis MRI on Monday Oct 26th. However, this didn’t happen due to a scheduling mishap. One of the unfortunate coincidences of the timing of my cancer diagnosis is that it exactly coincided with UPMC changing their entire system. This has caused long delays with scheduling and constant griping by their employees with the new system.

Scans like MRIs, PETs and CT are in short supply and expensive, so getting on the calendar is a huge challenge. We’re blessed in Pittsburgh/America to have such access to these though, some countries don’t have a single scanner or only 1-2. The PET scanner I had at Hillman Cancer Center was one of the fastest in the world and it truly felt like Star Trek.

The pelvic MRI for Oct 26th, I actually scheduled back in September as the first available! I was lucky to get my PET Scan (which showed spread) in October only because there was a last minute cancellation, the actual first available date was in December! Thank you so much to whoever cancelled…

So anyways, they called me on Friday and said it turns out the location they scheduled me for can’t actually do prostate MRIs, so now I’m rescheduled for December 17th.

If this were the Brain MRI I’d be quite furious, but honestly in the case of this pelvis one, more data will only be worse (for me) in my opinion. We already know I have cancer there, so the MRI is just going to provide better resolution. No one has even talked about what our plan for this tumor in my pelvis might be, despite being ground zero, it’s technically the least dangerous right now.

Sometimes I do wish I could go back in time and not know exact data from tests - for example, while I did have back and rib pain, I didn’t have sternum pain until I saw that there is cancer there in my PET scan, and now of course I feel it. Perhaps it shows the power of the mind, if you can surface new pain by knowing something, then it must also be possible to suppress it?