Week in Review 12.11.10

This past week turned out to be much busier than it was originally planned.  I was originally only scheduled to go to the hospital for two of the days of the week but ended up being there everyday except Monday.  This post is much longer than most because of how busy the week was :) 

Monday was more of just a prep day.  Because I had the bone marrow procedure coming the next day it pretty much made Monday a write off because my mind was so preoccupied with Tuesday's procedure.

Tuesday was actually a really busy day with a couple tiny unpleasantries and one big one :)  The word of the day was "awesome" because when I was describing everything to Amy the night before I would sacrastically end each description of the unpleasant things by sarcastically saying it was awesome. She of course the next day would say throw my use of awesome back at me.  She and my mom were trying to make me smile because they could tell that the bone marrow procedure was really weighing on my mind.

Awesome #1 - First thing in the morning I had a CT scan of all my organs and pelvis.  The exam itself isn't that unpleasant but the prep sure is.  First you are not allowed to eat or drink after midnight leading into the exam.  This isn't terrible except once you are unable to do something like eat or drink, you of course become so thirsty and hungry.  Once at the hospital I was given a litre of this disgusting white drink to down.  This drink illuminates your colon so they can distinguish that from your stomach.  The drink is terrible! It was like drinking cold liquid chalk.  The other terrible part of this drink was it acted like a cleanse and was cleaning me out for two days if you know what i mean ;)

Awesome #2 - The second appt didn't turn out to be bad, but that was because I got good news at it.  I met with the dentist second.  They like to check your teeth and get any potential procedures done before the transplant because since your mouth is so dirty, if something goes wrong in your mouth without having your immune system it can be very bad.  It turns out I had no cavities or anything wrong! I guess brushing your teeth twice a day and an apple a day does help :)  They wanted me to have a dental cleaning done before the transplant to lower the amount of mouth bacteria so this is why I had to come back to the hospital on Wednesday.

Awesome #3 - I had to do some blood tests next.  But these were no ordinary blood tests.  For most people a blood test consists of 3 or 4 tubes of blood, this was even the case for me most of the year.  But when they are doing baseline blood tests for blood cancer patients it is quite different.  They took 17 tubes of blood!  This didn't actually bother me too much because I am so used to blood needles now but it did provide me with some material for joking with the blood tech and nurses throughout the day.

Procedure #4 - This I didn't call awesome because it was really simple, it was an ECG.  It is really simple, they attach electrodes to your chest and it records your heart.

Awesome #5 - This was the big whopper of appointments, the bone marrow extraction.  Of course they make you wait for this so that it continues to build up the anticipation for it.  At the top of this post I put a picture to try and give you all an idea of what happens.  Needless to say it is quite painful and extremely uncomfortable.  I won't go into too much detail on it but lets just say you don't ever want to have one.  ;)  The procedure involves three extractions.  The first two extractions are where they suck out the bone marrow fluid into two vials.  This is called the bone marrow aspiration and is by far the most painful part.  The third part they push a different needle deep into your bone and rip out of piece of the marrow.  My mom said that the piece ended up being an inch long.  I didn't look because last night I did look and it haunted my dreams :)  This is the biopsy part of the procedure and doesn't hurt as much as the aspiration but you feel an incredible amount of pressure inside your bone while they are doing it that does hurt.  I had to have to doctor stop pushing twice just so I could recompose and handle the pain.  That was the end of Tuesdays procedures.

Wednesday - This was a simple day.  I just went into the hospital for an hour dental cleaning.  I am not a huge fan of these though because they always leave your gums sore afterwards. But compared to some of the other procedures I get, I would take sore gums any day ;)

 Thursday - I went back to the hospital to meet my radiation doctor, sign my consent to recieve radiation, and get my measurements done for radiation.  It is a pretty relaxed day.  The only touch part was when they are measuring you for radiation you have to keep perfectly still with your arms at your side but the bed was not wide enough for me and half of my arms were hanging over the edge so I had to keep my muscles tight to keep still.  I still have the marker markings on my body from this procedure.

Friday - Friday was heart and lung day for me.  The day started with a pulmonary function test to see how strong my lungs were.  This was a baseline test so they can see can compare in the future if my lungs are affected by the transplant.  The heart test I get is a muga scan.  They inject a radioactive isotope into your blood stream and then measure what percentage of the blood your heart pumps out in each beat.  It is a pretty easy test as you just lie down in a dark room for 30-40 mins. I often fall asleep :)  This test is important because if your heart is below 50% they will reconsider which chemo to give or have to give a lower dose as some of the chemo damages the heart.  My heart was 57% so I am good to go for the chemo.  It did ring true how the chemo damages the heart though because 1 year ago before I started all this my heart was at 65%.  I guess those chemo drugs really are bad for you ;)  I intend to work my heart really hard after the transplant and try to build back up its strength :)

Well that was my week.  I got most of my baseline tests done and only have one left. Next week I go to the hospital on Thursday to get my hickman line re-inserted and also have an LP done.  Then on Friday I get admited into the hospital and start the heavy chemo saturday.  We are off to Niagara tonight to go to the casino to have some fun before the coming transplant.  Maybe even we will win some money :)  Hope you all have a good weekend.




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