The 5th times the charm ? No.



So, it's Day 1, again.

It's an afternoon start, and I am in early for a Lumbar Puncture (LP) to draw fluid for testing, and then an injection of Chemo right into the spinal column/Brain Pan.

I am on Blood Thinners to prevent a clot I got after the hospital chemo, so I had to stop them temporarily.
They needed to wait on my blood test results to make sure the clottting was working proppery before the LP.

My Noon LP, became a 1:00 LP, then a "just before 2 LP".

Didn't finish until 2:30.

Attempt 1.

Freezing Needle. Ow a bit more then normal.
Lumbar Needle Insertion - He forgot to tell me, so it caught me of guard and jumped.
Goes in. Fair bit of discomfort, not so much pain, but the very dull sucking icky feeling for the Bone Marrow (BM)
Failed to get in the right place - No draw.

Attempt 2
Goes in ok, again, the sucking feeling, a bit more pain this time.
then ZOINKS, he hit a nerve heading down for my right leg, and I feel like I just got electrocuted. My lungs contract involuntarily and a make a very weird yelp/scream, and the right leg jerks. A wave of pins and needles heads down the leg.

My legs still work. Very Happy about that, but now even more nervous.

Attempt 3
Still no luck, but a lot more actual pain this time.

Attempt 4
Call in the Pinch Hitter.
The doctor who did my first BM came in to have a crack at it.
New Freezing - Deep Freezing. Ow.
Puncture - OW.
Still no luck.

Attempt 5 This will work now.
OW - MF SOAB OW
They give up.
Ow.
They are going to have to do it under XRay to guide the needle in. Bones are too strong/thick.

Contrary to popular belief - Milk does NOT make a body strong. It's genetics, and possible Diet Pepsi.

So, yeah, not having a good day.

Then they gave me the chemo...

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Someone's like me.

I was back in at the LBMT Thursday afternoon for blood work, hickman line flushing, and news. The good news is that there seems to be a very good chance that they have found a bone marrow match for me.  Dr. Bernard, who gave me the news, said a "95% chance" - mostly to give an out, as there are a lot of things that can go wrong still. I don't know how far along they are in the process with the donor but they are looking at starting the transplant in the next 2-3 weeks, early-mid October.  I will know more shortly after a yet to be scheduled meeting with Dr. Nevill. So, if you are one of the recent people who signed up for the registry, and have been magically called as a match, you might very well be my blood brother/sister so to speak - lol. The coming transplant scares the willies out of me as it will be the most intensive event I have been through in this whole thing, since the start over a year and a half ago.  Any grief, discomfort, etc.  I have been ...
Read more

Thurdsay - My New Nemisis ?

Wow. Today was nasty. Tossed and turned most of the night, and then barfing in the morning. Nothing to come out, just there to taunt me, and let me know who's boss. Then there was the tightness of the chest, and some pain in my arm. Well, that started a flury of activity. ECG, blood work, etc. ECG looks good, there were some blood signed that the heart might have been in distress. They will be putting me on some drugs to help my heart mellow out just in case. It's all fine now, but they are being on the safe side. Tired. So very tired today. I slept most of the day, and I am only now getting into doing some stuff on the computer. Catching up with work, blog, etc. I don't have my totals for today, but the platelets and red blood cells mean I will probably be getting a transfusion tomorrow. I got to have a shower today - Yippie ! My last bag of the nasty "Red Koolaid" of death was today, so only the one Chemo drug left on tap. Still a potent brew at that, bu...
Read more

Day 17 - Hey, it's Saturday.

Ok, it's official.  I have been in here too long now, as I no longer know what day of the week it is. I seems the graft is starting to settle in.  The white count is up to 0.7, and the others are falling very slow.  The platelets might be gaining, but I had a transfusion yesterday so it's hard to tell.  (I don't have the 'post transfusion' counts). I am NOT feeling much better though.  I am still sleeping/zoned out/etc. through the day, and having crazy dreams, etc. and uncomfortable sleeps through the night.  It hurts to swallow.  So, when your crazy thirsty at night, because you have been sleeping with your mouth open, because your nose is blocked up from not being able to blow it due of nose bleeds, you are in for a world of hurt. I have managed to build up enough get up and go to get the computer on to post on the blog, check facebook, and put some audio-books onto my mp3 player. My blood sugar level was a bit high in my morning blood tes...
Read more