Today was bone marrow biopsy day. It's day 14 of the second round of chemo, so now's the time to check whether the chemo had the desired effect. The first round of chemo brought me down from 43 percent to I think 10 percent leukemia cells. I don't think I ever mentioned that FISH test that came back, because I was already on to the second round of chemo.
For some reason I thought I might not have had as much pain this time around. I guess there's nothing wrong with wishful thinking. But, it seems like these biopsies are getting more painful every time. Maybe my bone is still bruised and they keep hitting the same bruised spot. I think I made up for the pain by getting pictures of the goods.
Here's my bone marrow sample. It's a core of my pelvis. It looks like a maggot to me.
And here is the stuff they suck out from the inside of my bone (also bone marrow, but looks more like blood.
They had a harder time getting a good sample this go round. I could feel the suction of the syringe pulling against what felt like the vacuum that was my pelvis. They kept saying "It's dry." I guess I don't have a lot in there, which they say is good. They pretty much decimated my marrow with the first round. But this time they annihilated it. I think annihilated is worse than decimated?
I got some more non-news today. The HLA typing results are in for me and my brothers. This will determine whether either of my brothers is a good match to be my donor. However, the results still need to be read. I guess test results of this kind come back with a lot of cryptic language, and Dr. Bowles is the man for the job. I will pray to the gods of Dr. Bowles that the matching comes out in my favor.
One more thing. My mom has been bringing goodies for the nurses periodically, and the other day she brought a tin of giant salty nuts. Khursha thanked me for the giant salty nuts, and I asked her if she liked giant salty nuts. She said, "Of course. That's how I got into nursing."
For some reason I thought I might not have had as much pain this time around. I guess there's nothing wrong with wishful thinking. But, it seems like these biopsies are getting more painful every time. Maybe my bone is still bruised and they keep hitting the same bruised spot. I think I made up for the pain by getting pictures of the goods.
Here's my bone marrow sample. It's a core of my pelvis. It looks like a maggot to me.
I got some more non-news today. The HLA typing results are in for me and my brothers. This will determine whether either of my brothers is a good match to be my donor. However, the results still need to be read. I guess test results of this kind come back with a lot of cryptic language, and Dr. Bowles is the man for the job. I will pray to the gods of Dr. Bowles that the matching comes out in my favor.
One more thing. My mom has been bringing goodies for the nurses periodically, and the other day she brought a tin of giant salty nuts. Khursha thanked me for the giant salty nuts, and I asked her if she liked giant salty nuts. She said, "Of course. That's how I got into nursing."
Khursha sounds like a funny gal. Did you get a special giant nut mix? Like Brazil nuts? Walnuts? I like pine nuts, which are teeny. Also I like cashews and maybe those are a legume? I wouldn't know.
ReplyDeleteIn the meantime, maybe you have a Black Metal friend who can clear up that annihilated versus decimated question. Also, I wonder what else you could ask so Khursha can use her punchline?
ReplyDelete