Well, nothing happened. Oh, we got there -- despite the 10 inches of new snow. Unploughed snow that had starting to blow around really good by 6:30 AM when we pulled out of the driveway -- But they didn't do any biopsy. Oh; the hospital was ready for me. They got me arm-banded, dis-robed, out of my shoes and onto a tidy nice bed in Day Stay Hospital. It was actually pretty nice & welcoming and comfy. And all the regular hospital people had come to work through the same snow we had & they were pretty cheerful and even friendly.
They had me order the breakfast that was waiting for me when I got back to the room - Cheerios with strawberry yogurt and apple juice. Coffee with 3 cream for Femi.
It wasn't even very long before they hoisted me onto a rolling bed and gave me an elevator ride downstairs so I could meet the nice radiology technician, Danny who was hoping nobody else would show up because the weather outside was so bad and he wouldn't mind a light day. Then I met the Radiologist (big 'R' -- maybe MD, I guess) and she started guessing at my medical history and why it was that a biopsy of the type prescribed might be appropriate. She guessed first that my sacrum had detiorated further and we were looking for the extent of the invasion into my bone.
I let her guess again, since she was on a roll. She asked the second question so fast, I would have had to be pretty quick to slip a word in edgewise anyway. And she proposed that we were going to do the biopsy to establish a baseline for biophosphate treatment (chemicals that are linked with regeneration of bone mass).
But she must have drawn a breath - or I just decided to be snotty - and I asked her if I should just let her keep asking me questions until she hit on it by chance. "But it could take a while." I continued, " because the answer to your first questions are, No and No. Would it help if I put you in the picture a bit about my medical history and what my understanding is about why I am here with you today?"
I can't imagine how that endeared me to her, but she did ask me to go ahead. And I did -- I gave her the highlights:
In 2005, I was first diagnosed with Multiple Myeloma with only a protein assay -- no sign of mailignant cells in the regular bone biopsy -- no other bloodwork abnormalities (except a low red blood cell count).
Only after a guided biopsy of my sacrum did we find absolute evidence of multiple myeloma.
I have been 4 years without any symptoms after a double autologous blood stem cell transplant.
New symptoms indicate a re-occurrance of the problem.
Pain relievers do not adequately relieve the pain.
Steriods (dexamethasone) were started 2 days prior and may be giving some relief.
And I concluded, "I would like, please, a biopsy of the enlarged area of my sacrum to determine if it contains malignant cells."
She said fine, we would start.
They did the first scan. She read it and then came to tell me; "Well, that bone is too tough for me to penetrate with the biopsy needles we use here. To reach that area would require a different type of biopsy needle to auger into the area. We don't ever use that type here. If I were to attempt to get a sample from you, I do not think that I would succeed and you would only get a negative result. And that would not be helpful to you."
So we trundled me back to my lovely almost-tidy bed, ate breakfast and drove home through the partially plowed, still really snowy, really slippery roads.
Got any hints??
What was I doing there? We are going back to my former oncologist. He said that if we get him the CT film he'll review it with his (big 'R') Radiologist and work out a way to get the biopsy done.
I guess I should be glad they didn't do anything.
I spent the rest of the weekend with my feet up. Steady intake of apple juice, Percoset, dexamethasone and plenty of warm home-cooked meals. And time with Oscar and Femi to just relax and rest. We even celebrated a birthday party, congratulated Mahlona and Noel on their pregnancy announcement, Tim & Taylor (soon to be big brother and sister) had a great time with Oscar and his newest birthday presents.
And I feel much better! Neat, huh?!?
No comments:
Post a Comment