Tuesday Bone Marrow

The nurse that supervised Deb's Bone Marrow Test today is from Macon, Ga!

This test is the only one that Deb really openly dreads. She handles all others like a good soldier, marching boldly forward. But, as a veteran of many bone marrow tests, she has experienced the bad and worst! She truly dreads this one!

We had a good group of classmates in the waiting room this morning including an oncologist from Spartanburg, SC. who is himself a newly diagnosed myeloma patient. We had a couple from Mississippi, one from Alabama, one from Virginia, and one from Chicago.

It is always the same: where's your home? How long have you been coming here? Been treated anywhere else?  Who's your doctor? How did you get diagnosed?

That last question is always the most interesting. Most classmates were mis-diagnosed with something else first because multiple myeloma is so rare. Many doctors are unfamiliar with it. Most classmates seem to have gone a while without treatment because of the mis-diagnosis until their symptoms continue to worsen and force another diagnosis. Broken bones and anemia are common. Back pain is common.

Everyone in the room agreed: they do not enjoy bone marrow tests!

If you want to see the procedure in detail, there are pix and a very graphic description earlier on this blog.

Weds brings MRI's. Many hours in the noisy machines for Deb; some lying on her bone marrow wound. Then PET scans. More lying in noisy machines  and including the yummy radioactive sugary drink.

Thursday afternoon we finally meet with Dr vanRhee for his ideas about Deb's next steps.

Then ???