Bone Marrow Biopsy Mon, Nov 18

Eric and I headed into clinic yesterday morning for a rare Monday appointment. He was scheduled for a bone marrow biopsy. All in all, it was not a bad day. I'd have to actually count to be sure, but I think Eric has had about 12 of these, so he knows exactly what to expect. He isn't scared and actually says he enjoys being put to sleep. Our appointment was at the same time as last week so I was worried about traffic, but it wasn't raining and I guess less people go to work/school on Mondays so it wasn't too bad, better by about 10 minutes than last week. Eric does have to fast for the sedation, but the procedure list was short yesterday and he got to go first, so he was in the procedure room by 9:30am. While he was having his procedure I was able to pick up prescriptions at the pharmacy and get him the Chocolate Milk 2Go at Starbucks that he always wants when he wakes up. Meanwhile, our team was also hard at work. Eric's bloodwork came back and his platelets were very low (13 again) so our Nurse Practitioner was able to order his platelets and pre-meds so they were ready when his procedure was finished. Unfortunately for Eric, he was just waking up from sedation when they hit him with Benadryl, but he had a nice nap while he got the platelet transfusion and when he woke up it was almost time to go. Even with a slight delay between the pre-meds and platelets, we were home by 2pm and traffic was a breeze! Quite randomly, Eric decided he wanted to make a milkshake when we got home, so we whipped up a strawberry shake!  

As a result of Eric's low blood counts, we have to go back to clinic on Friday for a check up. At that time we should also be able to get some of the results from yesterday's biopsy. The chimerism (DNA) is done in Seattle and usually takes a little longer, but the report from the pathologist (hematopathologist?) should be ready by Friday. This will tell us the % of abnormal cells in the marrow. There are 3 possible outcomes from this last round of treatment: 1. it hasn't worked; the abnormal cells have increased and the donor cells have decreased, 2. it has prevented the disease from progressing; the abnormal cells and donor cells remain about the same, or 3. it has worked; abnormal cells have decreased and the donor cells have increased. Our team will have a plan for the next steps in treatment once we know which of these scenarios has occurred. 

Eric does seem to be feeling a little better this week, since finishing the oral chemo on Wednesday. He's a little less nauseous and a little less tired. We had big plans for him to go to school today, but he woke up quite sore from his biopsy yesterday. That has only happened once before, when they had trouble getting enough marrow for the biopsy. The doctor has explained previously that with his counts so low, his marrow is relatively empty. We'll try for school again tomorrow 🤞

Eric waiting for his biopsy at clinic

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