Bone Biopsy

So today (well technically yesterday since it’s 1:30am) was my bone biopsy.  Dan and Nina came with me. I have been a nervous wreck over this for weeks. I was excited about the IV drip though. It was supposed to put me in a twilight state and included fentanyl (which is like morphine), dilaudid and versed. They had to give me the max dose because my eyes just wouldn’t shut and I was awake for the whole thing. The drill was repetitive for an hour. The actual procedure itself was supposed to last 30 minutes but it ended up lasting an hour. The radiologist was wonderful. An extremely smart and acccurate man with a nice “bedside manner”. 

He got 3-4 good bone samples, in the lesion and some right around it too. We will know results by Tuesday after the samples take 40 hours to decalcify and they run pathology.  

Recovery was rough though. I was SO HOT even though I was freezing beforehand and everyone else was freezing around me. I was very nauseous but didn’t throw up until I got home and got out of bed after a while. The spot where they drilled into my bone is swollen bruised bleeding and throbbing. They gave me pain medicine and I’ve been asleep since my appt was over. Hopefully tomorrow (technically later today when I wake up in the morning) will be better. 

The procedure basically involved me laying on my back completely still while they dropped continuous drugs through an IV and had me hooked up to heart monitors and blood pressure devices. My heart rate was 45 again. Not sure why it won’t climb out of he 40’s. They drilled a giant needle into the middle of my upper sternum which stayed there. It was way higher than I was expecting, pretty much right below my neck. Then they would electronically move me in and out of the CT machine while they were behind closed doors to get images. Then the radiologist would come back and do more drilling. I was alert and talking and watched the whole thing. They said the versed drug was supposed to make me not remember or realize what was going on bu for some reason that didn’t work. It wasn’t painful and the drugs were great nonetheless, at least until the end when everything was maxed out, which is why they added the third drug dilaudid. Not sure what that is. I had to stay in recovery a long time. The nurses said they gave me ton of meds which for them would’ve put them in a coma jokingly. I have the tolerance of a train apparently. 

Resting now. Going back to bed. Looking forward to seeing my mom on Sunday. Love all of you!!  And thanks to my family for their help yesterday!  After all that Aidan still had tutoring and they both needed picked up from school. What a day that I’m glad is behind me.