*** THIS POST WAS PUBLISHED OUT OF SEQUENCE. It was supposed to be posted before the 7/13 Oncologist visit, but I wasn't finished with it at that time. ***
** NOTE** I have recently been made aware of just how BO-RING some of my posts are.
Sorry about that. I guess I've been trying to get an accurate record, for whatever reason...maybe so if someone else is going to have the same procedure/experience, they can get an idea of what to expect. Or maybe because I just start writing and can't stop.
Anyway, in cases of long, drawn out, BO-RING posts, I'll try to give a summary at the beginning so in case someone doesn't want to suffer through all the details, they can just read the summary.
There. Are we friends again?
** BEGIN SUMMARY SECTION**
* Bone Marrow Biopsy and Aspiration HURTS!
* I have very hard bones.
* The good news: the resulting scars are tiny, considering.
** END SUMMARY SECTION**
I've been dreading this appt since the Dr. asked how my pain tolerance was.
I broke my own cardinal rule - I Googled bone marrow biopsy on the internet and saw some pictures that made me cringe. So I quickly stopped looking, but the damage was done.
I left from work to go to the clinic. Our neighbor Steve (wife is Laurie, neighbors and "BFF"s for 11 years) gave Julie a ride to the clinic to meet me so that she could drive me home. Julie had told me that she would prefer not to be in the room when the procedure was done. I have no problem with that as I know, no matter how painful it is, that there's really nothing she can do for me. It's not like I'm going to die from it or anything. And I think seeing someone in pain makes her feel helpless.
The nurse calls us in to the procedure room. She takes my vitals. Then she says the doctor will be in shortly. Two lab techs, both female, come into the room, introduce themselves, and start their prep work.
They have a bunch of glass slides and assorted paraphernalia. At this point, Julie wishes me the best of luck and darts out of the room. While she's catching up on the latest People Magazine, I'll have a doctor punching holes in both hips. How supportive of her!
When the doctor comes in, he asks where my wife is. I tell him, "You might have seen her vapor trail. "
The techs laugh, a little too quickly. I sense some nervous apprehension on their part.
They have me lie on the procedure table, on my left side. The doctor asks me to lift my shirt up and loosen up my cargo shorts. He then pushes down the waistband of my underwear to just below my waist, for access to the target (ouch!) area. He finds his landmarks with his fingers on my lower back /waist, and marks his targets with a pen. The targets are located on either side of my spine, probably 2" or so from center line. He puts a drape over my back and cleans my skin with what I assume to be betadine. He asks the technicians to prepare their material.
Here's an illustration from a Mayo Clinic website:
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/medical/IM01819
Yeah, ouch!
The doctor then tells me that he'll start with my right side and that the local anesthesia will be first. He says I'll feel a bee sting followed by some pressure. I feel the bee sting, and then I think he waited a while and then started to move the needle around and inject the flesh around where he would be working. There was some pain associated with that, but not too much. Then he waited a while for the anesthesia to take effect.
I didn't see what instrument he used and I really didn't want to. When he started, I was aware of pressure. Quite a bit of pressure, actually. Some of it hurt a lot. At some point, he told me I had "tough bones". I told him that I had never broken a bone. He said he believed that.
The techs were trying to take my mind off the pain by engaging me in conversation. We talk about our families.
The whole time we're talking, the Dr. continues working on me, and some of it is very painful, to the point of what I'd call excruciating. But the peaks don't last too long, at least. It's bearable. Every time the doctor senses I am in a lot of pain, he stops and asks if I'm OK. Compassionate guy, for sure.
And one of the techs gets me a Kleenex as, yes, ONE lonely paindrop is working its way down my cheek. She also tells me that if it would help, she'd hold my hand. Sweet of her to ask, but that would make me a complete wuss, so I politely decline. Nice lady.
And now I see why the techs were so nervous. This is no fun and I'm sure when someone has a low tolerance for pain, it can get pretty stressful.
He is providing the techs with specimens which they process. Some of it appears to be blood which goes on the glass slides and there is something else, too.
I ask the doctor if there are 2 systems. Otherwise, why sample both the left AND the right sides? He told me was that it was better to have a larger sample size, it would make it less likely that they would miss something. He says if I would rather NOT do the other side, if it was too painful... and I tell him my question was merely academic and that I am fine with him doing the other side. Finally, he is done with my right side. He moves the drape and prepares to do the other side.
He preps the area, gives me the anesthesia and begins to work. I am feeling a TON of pressure, and the doctor is obviously really bearing down. He is having a tough time trying to get through the bone, evidently. He tries again as I brace myself. After a while, he says "I give up. I can't get through on that side. I'm not going to put you through any more. I'm sure we'll have a large enough sample with what we've got. And the results are not going to change what we already know anyway." .... Well, OK, Doc... if you're SURE....
That was a relief. The techs seem to breathe a sigh of relief, also. They complete their work and gather up their material and specimens. The doctor asks them to show me one of their specimens. It's a piece of bone or marrow (?), about the diameter of a wooden kitchen match and it appears to be about 3/8" long. It's floating in a plastic tube... awfully small, considering.
I'd like to think that was the last time I go through that, but I doubt that it is. I imagine that at some point they'll do another PET scan and another bone marrow biopsy / aspiration. I'm guessing that the initial passes of these 2 tests are to get a baseline that they can compare to sometime during / after chemotherapy.
The doctor bandages me up and gives me aftercare instructions. They tell me to sit up, slowly. I thank the techs as they exit. The one who offered to hold my hand squeezes my forearm and wishes me good luck.
An angel, right here on earth.
*********** PIX ***********
IMMEDIATELY AFTER PROCEDURE
(That's blood and betadine on my back and waistband. Honest!)
TWO DAYS LATER
Barely visible
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