Rough one today

So today was my day of needles... I am really starting to hate needles, and they apparently feel the same way.

Start off the morning getting to the hospital and hanging out in the unit for a bit while we wait for procedures. Nurse comes in, who was super nice, and wants to do blood work... of course she does, lol. I warn her about my veins so she warms me up and then starts looking. Its never a good sign when she says she has not seen a case as bad as mine in a while. Well that's reassuring isn't it. So she tries in the elbow crease... no go... switches to the hand... no go... she is done trying. So the Dr. comes in to do the bone marrow biopsy and aspiration, and the nurse sees if yesterdays blood work will do. Dr. gets all set up, freezes the crap out of my butt, which does sting a little, but not too bad. Proceeds to do the aspiration part is where they put the needle in your bone and take out fluid, this really hurt, like screamed out a few times painful. Then it was time for the biopsy part when they take some of your bone. Well guess what, this was extremely painful as well, I was crying by the end of it. Not too sure why mine was so painful compared to other stories but it was. Hope like hell I never have to do that again. I even had morphine and Ativan before hand which didn't seem to help a bit. So after they are done their torture I get to lay awkwardly for 45 minutes on a hard pack so we don't have bleeding issues... no issues there.

Then another nurse comes in with the blood work cart and apologizes, we do need different blood for today. Luckily she was able to get a vein with a bit of digging and maneuvering, just as she was about to give up. Boy to my veins suck, did I mention that yet? LOL At least she was able to get what she needed.

Had a bit of time before the Lumbar Puncture so we watched some TV and ate lunch in the room. 12:30 the next Dr. comes in and asks if I'm ready. Yep, sure, lets do this thing.

So I lie on my side curled into a tiny ball when he presses and probes my spine, satisfied he tells me to relax while he gets prepared. After preparations its back into my little ball as far as I can. He walks me through what he is doing, prepping with the cleaning stuff, then its time for the freezing. This freezing stings more than the other stuff, but I think it also worked better. He puts the needle in, gets his fluid out. Puts another needle in and injects some chemotherapy into my spine. And then he is done. Pretty painless this time around. Then I get to lay on my stomach for 45 minutes so the chemo can work its way up to the brain.

In case your wondering why they are injecting chemo into my spine, its in case there are any pesky cells floating in there that regular chemo cant get to do to the blood-brain barrier. Pretty cool stuff.

So now I am laying in the hotel bed thankful today is over and that tomorrow is just a day on consults. I have a sore gluteus maximus which makes sitting and laying down awkward and uncomfortable. But we did get out for a nice little walk around the hotel in the sun after dinner, so that was a nice way to end a day that had a rough start.

As always, thanks for reading and joining me on my journey :)