Biopsy Blues

Well, I had the Bone Marrow Biopsy and boy, was it fun. NOT! I was on time for once with a .25 Xanax in me for comfort.  When I told the nurse, Anna, about the Xanax, she said I should have taken a .5. (Of course!!) Then, while doing my bloodwork and being weighed (of course I gained another pound! What the hell?) I was asked if I received paper work or info on the procedure. My answer was-No! Damn. So, Anna handed me a packet of papers on what to expect. There were too many pages to read before being stuck so I took another half of Xanax and got up on the table. I had my I-Pad with me and tried to listen to relaxing music to calm my nerves. Celine Dion and Andrea Bocelli's "The Prayer" was playing in my ears when Dr. Schwartz came in.

I had to lay on my abdomen and they proceeded to clean my back with betadine solution. After applying a drape which only exposed the necessary area, the doctor said he was going to give me the first novacaine/lidocaine shot. Ouch! Then came the second shot. I thought I wouldn't feel the second one since the first one was supposed to numb my back, right? No such luck. This one went deeper and it hurt like hell! All I could think of saying was "Oh my God!!!" and I said it many times, very loudly.

Next step, the big needle used to withdraw the marrow from my bone. This needle went right into my right hip bone. It felt like a huge amount of pressure on my back and I didn't like it one bit. I was told before the procedure that most of the pain comes when the marrow is drawn out. The doctor told me it would be 5 seconds of pain and  Anna told me it would be more like a minute. Big difference!!! All I can say is that it hurt. A LOT!!!! So I just kept saying,  "Oh my God""Oh my God" "Oh my GOOOOOD"!!!!

I had read about the procedure on the computer and a dry pull had been mentioned. This means that when the doctor tries to draw the marrow out, nothing comes out and they have to do it again. So, I asked, "Please tell me it's not a dry pull?" and the doctor said, "No, it's just coming out very slowly. You don't seem to want to give it up."  REALLY?   Too Funny!!  GREAT!!!! I always have to be unique!

But then it was over. Anna had to keep compression on the area for ten minutes and that's when I started to have my weird reaction-feeling hot all over like I'm going to faint. Good thing I was laying down. I forgot my ice pack that I like to bring with me for these types of situations so I asked Anna for my cold water bottle to be placed on my neck. How wonderful that felt!

When it was time for me to get up to go, Anna asked me if the sight of blood makes me sick and I said no. What???  Why????? I turned around and there were all these little slides with blood on them. My blood. Yuck!

 I got dressed and walked out expecting Craig to be in the inner-office waiting area but he was not. I found him in the main waiting room in the furthest chair.  Too cute! (They had told him he couldn't be in the room during the procedure which is hysterical. He could have never been in there. No way!)

I made my appointment for the follow up and we went out for a tasty breakfast. I rested for the rest of the day and have only been a little sore in my hip area since the procedure. I have to say that if I ever have to do it again, I would choose to do it this way-being awake. Yes, it hurt like a b---h, but when I was put out the first time it took half a day. Pre-op, IV, post-op and then I fainted in my driveway (remember?).

Oh, the lessons I'm learning.

It's a Tricky Game

After two months, I went back for my second maintenance treatment with Rituxin. My pre- blood work showed a very low white count again but Dr. Schwartz wanted to go ahead with the treatment. Last time, my white count went up with the help of the steroids so he figured it would happen again.

I had Karen as my nurse and she has definitely become my favorite. She is so kind and more importantly sweet and efficient! She offered me a copy of my bloodwork, which has never happened before. I wish now that I had all of the copies because "Houston, we have a problem!" (more on that in a moment)

The treatment went well aside from the needle hurting when inserted in my port and the tape hurting when Karen tried to get it off. Apparently, I have developed an intolerance to adhesive. OUCH!

I just went for my one week follow up for my white count check and although it is slightly up, the doctor is still concerned. He mentioned on my last visit that he might want to do a new bone marrow biopsy and now he really wants to do it. He is afraid that the Rituxin is causing the problem and wants to stop giving it to me. The only problem with that approach is the fact that Rituxin is the drug required for this type of Lymphoma. WTF!!! I requested that the Chief of Lymphoma at Sloan get my chart prior to the test so he can confirm the approach and in the process I found out that he was only receiving my doctors notes but not the specific blood counts. I was supposed to tell them to send them? Really? So, if I had gotten a print out after every visit I could have sent them myself. Oy vey! It's a tricky game! Hopefully, everything will be sent today.

The most stressful thing at the moment is the impending bone marrow biopsy tomorrow. The only other one I had was under anesthesia. This one will be done in his office with a local. The movies depict this test as very painful and I'm not really into that. He said I might feel nothing or I might feel five seconds of pain. Really? Either way, I'm not thrilled. But as my dad always told me, and still does, "You do what you gotta do."

So, I will. And, I will continue to keep you posted.
Thanks for listening.