Done with Chemo! PET SCAN

I had a PET scan during my initial diagnosis/staging. It's a very simple test. You get an IV and have to sit quietly in the dark for about an hour or so. They inject you with some special radioactive medicine. After sitting for awhile they will give you an injection into your IV that will make you have to urinate a LOT. Then you lay on the scan table and the machine will scan your body for 30-45 mins. It's very quiet... NOT at all like an MRI. The PET scan shows tumors of 1 mm or larger. My problem is that my insurance company refused to pay for it. I still get bills for $6000....which I am NOT paying for as my doctor felt it was medically necessary when he ordered the scan. 

We're still fighting that bill. I'm hoping to wear the insurance company down enough to make them pay it. So far I've used 3 appeals and still they say no.

So glad to hear the PET scan came back clear.  I've learned a whole lot about these scans since I had mine a few weeks ago.  I was also so scared about lighting up like a Christmas tree on that thing.  I had the CT scan way back, but this was the first PET scan. The say the PET scan shows up even 1 cell of cancer anywhere in your body, whereas with the CT scan, the cancer has to be a certain size or bigger to show up.   Mine also came back completely clear.  I really worried about that, just as you did.  I also learned that cancer feeds on sugar, and that's why the radioactive stuff is in a glucose based injection.  Since you were not supposed to have any starches or sugars the day before, your cancer cells are hungry and grab onto that glucose, thus lighting up on the scan.