It's biopsy day! I've been watching the countdown all morning. I am not allowed to eat or drink anything. I had to get up at 7am to make sure I got enough nutrition(and my morning sugar rush) for the day. I literally crawled out of bed at 7, finished my cinammon toast and banana at 7:15, took my pills, and was back in bed by 7:25am. We will get the results of the aspirate later today. However; the bone marrow aspirate can be an inaccurate reading of the bone marrow. They will use the biopsy to determine what the next step is. Biopsy results won't be back until early next week. The Cytogenetic testing of the slides is sent out of state and won't be back for seven days. The big question this procedure is going to answer is what chemotherapy will be most beneficial for me. The transplant includes chemotherapy for 1-3 weeks regardless, but the biopsy will determine if I need more chemo prior to the transplant chemotherapy. If I have less than 5% blasts I will go to transplant chemo. If there are 6-10% blasts I will most likely get another course of Decitabine before going to transplant chemo. If my blast count has not improved at all they will choose another completely different drug to use. The results will also decide the toxicity of the transplant chemo. However; they already guaranteed me it was going to be harsh no matter what.
During the biopsy I am under general anesthesia. I can't feel, see, or hear whats going on. That's the way I like it. I am thankful Doctor Etzl waits till after I'm asleep to bring the needle out. I can handle being poked and prodded, but don't show me the needle. On this occasion, we want the blasts to be falling, and not climbing.
More shiny heads keep showing up. Love all my bald boys.
Some of these make me laugh and sad at the same time. I really have nothing to say about good times between us or anything because we were never really friends. Pity, you are one of the nicest people I've ever met (And if you haven't figured it out, we went to the same elementary school. haha. You are supposed to be in two of my classes this year too...). I heard about your situation and at first it didn't hit me but today, right now, going through your blogs I was sad. hahaha Actually I'm happy because you are doing so well! Anyway... yeah... hahaha. Mrs. Gallegos exploded something today...
ReplyDeleteWhat an amazing body of work your blogspot is, Carolyn. You are a gifted writer and I can't help but think God is using this experience to plant a seed in you that will continue to grow long after you are well again. Who knows, maybe that "seed" is becoming a professional writer. You have a gift, Carolyn, and I feel blessed by the gift of your blogspot, because it really is a gift to everyone that reads it! Needless to say, you are one amazing young lady. Keep on writing, Ceci, because you are educating us, comforting us, making us laugh, making us cry, giving us hope, inspiring us, blessing us, making us realize we need each other, making us thankful for what we have and challenging us to become better people. And that's just my short list! Keep on writing, keep on climbing and know that there are many people out here in cyber-space pulling on that rope with you!
ReplyDeleteJennie Curletta