Tuesday, September 9, 2008

Our Hope: Last Biopsy

Dori had her one-year biopsy this morning. It went fine, and the preliminary results show no blasts, which means Dori remains leukemia-free. We're not celebrating yet, knowing the full lab results, which will be available in roughly a week, are what'sn important. Her other blood counts looked fine with a slight drop in platelets.

The biopsy, as some of you know, is medieval, almost gruesome. The VUMC staff does a good job, making it as low-key as possible. To Dori's amusement, one nurse calls herself Betsy the Bartender because she delivers a nice drug before the procedure. The staff played Simon & Garfunkel and then just did their thing after Dori, who was keyed up, sorta fell asleep. Dori asked that I not allow her to speak after the procedure because she knows she rambles like the last girl out of a bar. True to form, Dori rambled, cute as always.

She's resting now, sore and drug-fatigued. She's getting a one-year dose of Reclast, the latest and greatest drug to combat osteoporosis. Since she hadn't eaten since last night, I picked up some chicken parm, mashed potatoes and Dove dark chocolate, all of which she enjoyed very much.

Our hope and prayers are that Dori has had her the last biopsy. She'll return next month for her immunizations, then be free of clinic visits for a year.

My morning got off to a great start at 5 a.m. I ran six miles in 57:55, a 9:39/mile pace. Temp, humidity and dewpoint were 75, 75 and 65. Hopefully, my cold is gone and strong training will resume.

Time to take my sweet girl home ...

4 comments:

PJ said...

What S & G song did they play? Man, I had the no frills bmb. No music, no drugs, no nothing.

Seriously though, I totally agree with you about this being the final biopsy. Hope Dori's not too sore later.

Jim said...

They played Greatest Hits. Dori has no recollection of the songs, just that it was S&G.

Gotta believe I'd do the bmb with frills, having watched about 10. One thing that was interesting - the nurses said wives often watch/stay with their husbands, while husbands don't so much. So the wimps have been fighting our wars, IMO.

PJ, shoot me you phone numbers when you have a chance. We'd like to say hello to you and Ann this fall.

Renee Brown said...

Jim, We are sending lots of prayers, for perfect biopsy results.

Love, Renee,Bob and the gang

Ronni Gordon said...

Hi Jim
I too have the "no frills" bmb and a kinda jealous! I did have one resident who concocted something with morphine, and that one was nice. They really are awful, but I've had so many that I guess I could say I'm used to them. I've never actually looked at the needles. That must be tough for you.
Keep up the good work!