Today Mom went in for another bone marrow test. What exactly goes on when they take this sample? Well, we wondered the same thing, so Mom asked Dr. Jeong if I could stay and "watch." I wasn't 100% sure I wanted to watch, but curiosity won out! So, please, enjoy this bone marrow aspiration from my point of view. (
Don't worry, nothing shown will make you queezy - I would have hit the floor if I saw anything like that! ...and Mom only moon's Dr. Jeong, not the camera)
These are the slides that Dr. Jeong will put the samples on.
The prep: the kit on the right is full of all the tools Dr. Jeong will use. See that big blue handle - that's the needle that goes into the bone. Dr. Jeong pushed and twisted with all his mite to get that sucker in.
They put Mom in twilight. She had an IV (and a sore hand...the nurse blew the vein the 1st try) instead of using the port. Once the nurse started the medicine, Mom just talked and talked. Apparently her mouth didn't want to go into twilight!
Dr. Jeong was getting all his tools in order, and Mom just kept talking.
"How many bone marrow's are you doing today?"
"Did you have a good visit with your family?"
"How was your dad, did you have a nice visit?"
"Is your mother still living?"
"Will they ever come to America?"
"How many bone marrow's do you have today?"
Dr. Jeong finally stopped answering the questions, but she kept on asking them. At one point the nurse told her to relax and take a little rest. Mom's answer to that was "If I'm still talkin, don't poke me!"
It was pretty comical. Mom doesn't remember any of this. She doesn't remember asking any of those questions - and can't believe she was asking such personal questions. Dr. Jeong had just returned from Korea where he had been visiting his mother and father, so I guess Mom wanted to make sure he had a good trip.
He never did say how many bone marrow tests he was doing today.
Eventually the room got quiet and Dr. Jeong did his thing. He pushed and got that needle through the bone. Then he pulled out the needle and stuck several smaller needles in and took out some blood. Above he is squirting the sample on the slides and then putting a smaller sample on each of the remaining slides. This is the part where I excused myself before I hit the floor. That was a big needle and lots of blood!
Here are the finished samples on the slides.
These little cups had their own experiment going on. It is testing to see how fast the blood clots. See the chunks floating around... those are blood clots. Mom has been on a blood thinner for almost 3 weeks to get rid of the blood clot in her leg, so they wanted to see how quick her blood would actually clot.
Rise and shine! It's time to go home. This is nurse Kevin. He has been with us for all the other bone marrow tests and the Power Port. We're getting to know Kevin pretty well!
That's it. Then they kicked us out.
I hope you enjoyed this step-by-step bone marrow aspiration. It's not exactly like what you'd find in the medical books, but it's close! We should have the results on Friday.