Full afternoon of tests

Emma went with me to the BMT clinic this afternoon for the first time in many moons because we had been invited to dinner at 6:00 PM and I didn't know if there would be time to return home to pick her up and get to dinner at the home of Roger and Shirley Sorenson by 6:00 PM. Turned out that there was barely time enough to get to their home from the Huntsman Hospital.


The afternoon began about 1:12 PM with Elaine taking my vitals and then placing a line in my port for a serious blood-letting. She filled 15 vials plus a 16th to be discarded that was in the initial syringe. She had me wait while she checked on the room to be used for the bone marrow biopsy, which was scheduled for 2:00 PM. She found the room and then retrieved Emma from the outside Waiting Room and we waited together for Andrea to take the biopsy, which was delayed as she looked for a technician helper. This was the second time that Andrea has taken the biopsy and her technique remains somewhat brutal. Emma said that she had to look away as Andrea beat on my backside trying to get the 2 samples (one of marrow and one of bone). I was scheduled for a MRI at 4:00, but Scott-the technician-suggested that Radiology might take me early if we went upstairs right after the biopsy and we did so. It didn't take long to fill out their forms, but I wasn't called into the change room until about 3:35 and then not into the instrument room until about 4:15. My attempt at complaints about the delay was silenced by a reminder that the appointment was for 4:00; the procedure took an hour and 20 minutes and by the time I had changed and we retrieved the car there was only time to drive to the Sorenson's home. The results of these tests will go to Dr. Tricot and he may, or may not, reveal them to me when I see him Monday morning. Usually I don't learn anything until I get a copy of the letter he sends to the oncologist (Dr. Melissa Corcoran) who referred me to him.


We went to Emma's appointment with Dr. Hull yesterday afternoon. His nurse and then a resident reviewed the history of the blister infection on Emma's leg before Dr. Hull looked at the leg and listened to her complaints about the side effects she had experienced while taking the Tetracycline. He prescribed a different drug with a nearly unpronounceable name (Mycophenolate Mofetil), which they call CellCept, but which has the same list of possible side effects as the Tetracycline. Emma had quit taking the Tetracycline about a week ago and no blisters had appeared, but Dr. Hull did not think that she was cured and did say that she probably will have to take the new drug for months if not years (she did not take the Tetracycline for 2 weeks last month and blisters did reappear on the 14th day so skepticism about a cure is in order). We filled the prescription at Costco on the way home and she started taking the pills this morning so it is way too early to judge how serious the side effects will be.