The Early Bird

"The early bird gets the worm" is a truism worth noting and remembering. For my second day of treatment my schedule was as follows:
- 11:00 skeletal study (xrays)
- 14:00 labs
- 14:30 bone marrow biopsy
- 16:30 treatment

It's now 17:35 and I'm sitting in a room awaiting a nurse to come in and plug me in for my chemotherapy. I'm going to post this now so for those of you who got TaiTai's email on how to setup the RSS feed you can almost experience this realtime!

When I arrived this morning the radiology group was rip roaring and ready to go. My appointment started promptly at 1100 and I was done within 20 minutes. My next appt wasn't till 1400 so I had my labs drawn early, now I didn't need to be back till 1430.
I ventured around Union Square to keep myself entertained, got a bite to eat and finally decided to head back early. I was a bit over an hour early but surprisingly they put me in a room to see the doctor at about 1410 - I was early! And that's where my luck ran out!
The Doc didn't arrive to do the bone marrow biopsy till 1535, then we needed consent forms -the list of interruptions continued. When we finally got to the point we were all waiting for - my lying flat on a table while he sticks a rather sharp instrument into my pelvis to extract a piece of marrow and fluid - it was just after 1600. The marrow we got without complication but the fluid wa a bit more difficult. He kept having to go in deeper, to no avail. He finally had to "re-position"

**** LIVE UPDATE ****
1807 and the IV has just started. I've been informed that I have an hour of hydration in addition to the chemotherapy. I may get tobtuck the kids in.
****************
so repositioning means he has to take another jab - and this time he finds his mark! It's tough to describe the biopsy. You know where your skin is and even with anesthetics, you can feel when someone is under your skin - they're just not supposed to be there. And the "pop" that goes along with the removal of the marrow is just enough to grate your nerves. But the removal of the fluid is like a thousand nails on a chalkboard while liquid fire is shot down your nerve endings. The pain is numbed but you know it should be hurting!
Here's a quick pic of the bone marrow biopsy tool kit. I meant to get an after shot (blood everywhere, 3 stained slides, container with marrow) but I forgot.






The round container with the white lid is where my marrow ended up. I have no idea what everything else was being used for (and can't see it on this screen)

WAIT - U CAN ORDER FOOD?
one of the orderlies just came by asking who ordered the Pad Thai. I was so taken aback I just said no. I should have said yea as I've no clue when I'm getting out of here! Remember my comment about the chair vs the room? Well I'm in a room again today as the chairs are all full. Here's the IV tool kit (is anyone bored with my pic and play by play?)



And here's my IV that had to be done twice as she missed my vein the first time!


Notice the band aid at the top. That's the first stick. The iv is now in the vein at the bottom left of the wrist. I'm signing off for now but if anything else funny happens I'll add to the post.
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