12 12 12

Of course, I've got to post something on 12 12 12... if I wasn't being poked with an invasive marrow-sucking needle at 12:12... I would have posted at that time... but alas, that's what was happening at that monumental time in human history.

WARNING:  Graphic description follows

So, first I had to lay face down and get a bullseye painted on my left back hip... not really, but the circular motion of the cleaning solution felt like that's what was going on...the first needle poke is to start the numbing process... lidocaine injection.. a 7 out of 10 on the poke-pain scale.  But it's brief and the fluid flow is quick.  After that, the numbing begins so the 10 more injections (or whatever it is) don't hurt so much as he pushes the numbing agent deeper and deeper.  Next is the marrow extraction needle insertion... burrowing down into the bone.  I really have no idea what's really happening, but it feels like a hand-cranked drilling process to embed the device into my hip bone... then it's "ready?" and the doc pulls the marrow out.. counting the cc's to get to the goal for the biopsy test.  He watches for the wincing on my face, and I don't disappoint him.  It's not a fun feeling.. the pressure and soreness and overall weirdness of having something pulling at your internal structure.  He's done with that spot pretty fast and screws into a new spot for round two... in, ouch, out... done.  Clean it up and flip back over... and sit on the sore spot for 20 minutes...

They offered morphine originally, but I passed.  It's a trade off... the spot is sore and I'm not liking it... but it's over and I'm not drugged.  I think I made the right choice... same choice and the previous two.

Results due next week with two things as items of interest... is the immune system attacking in the marrow and that's why all cell types are being affected?  and is there a cloned t-cell present that's developed over time that's doing the attacking?  This process sucks, but I'm liking the data goals.

Platelet count today is 4 with hemoglobin up a tad from Monday... still sustaining that one-unit from Friday... so that's the one piece of good news today as I look at neutrophils at a level that's going to cause me to get the three-shot treatment to get those popped back up.  Neutrophils are the cells that fight infections... so they like me keeping those higher.  I like it too and, apparently, claritin helps alleviate the pains that might come with that.  We'll see.  It's two more shots of that stuff followed by the scheduled N-Plate on Friday.