7:55a Train into the city
8:20 Subway to Harvard Vanguard Kenmore
8:50 Check-in for bone marrow (hip) biopsy
9:00 Order refill of Acyclovir prescription
9:10 Into room for biopsy, "hello," numb, big needle 1 = aspiration, big needle 2 = core sample
9:30 Done and re-vesting
9:40 Thank Dr. G; she won't re-take the reins of my treatment until April
10:00 Claim refill of prescription at pharmacy
10:10 Check-in for regular blood labs
10:15 Vials drawn for Complete Blood Count, Metabolic Panel, and Chemistry*
10:20 Begin a brisk 0.5 mile walk in the cold from Harvard Vanguard to Beth Israel
10:35 Arrive at 7 Shapiro
10:50 Mrs Blogger arrives by car; we work the "Birds of the Americas" puzzle in the wating area until 11
11:00 Care Manager & Social Worker consultation (to make sure I've got all the physical, logistical and social support that the family & I need for Jan 15 to April-ish
11:45 Walk to lunch
12:40p Done with lunch; Mrs Blogger heads home, I go to heart test
1:00 Echo cardiogram, with cool doppler to measure velocity of blood & valves
2:00 Pulmonary Function Test (volume & efficiency of blood-lung system)
3:00 Vein check**
Walk to Longwood Green Line; Board at 3:30; arrange pickup in Davis Sq at 4:05
4:05 Mrs Blogger picks me up at the subway in Davis Sq.
As far as I can tell, here's what we're expecting from these tests:
Marrow: "no detectable cancer" (just like back in July; and checking a place a PET can't see)
Blood: "no metabolic problems" (particularly that my Liver numbers would be back to normal?)
Heart: "no muscle, valve, or flow problems" (confirming good EKG from last week)
Lung: "sufficient volume & oxygen carrying" (confirming good chest X-ray from last week)
Vein: "too small, will need a three-headed catheter" This line will be inserted on Jan 8 (which will be another full day at the start of stem-cell collection) and kept unil Jan 17 for both chemo (Jan 15/16) and stem cell re-introduction (after chemo is cleared).
* Here, for the record, is the phlebotomists color chart. I like any coding system: Area Codes, Zip Codes, ASCII, EBCDIC, RGB Colors. You name it. The physicist in me loves that the tubes come evacuated, so that the vacuum pulls the blood out of me. The code freak likes that the draw order and little blob of preservative/test agent in each type of test is indicated by a different color. Below are the colors Harvard Vanguard uses. Beth Israel uses a black-orange "tiger top" instead of "Gold"
Every cancer blood test I've ever had seems to include at least 3 vials:
Gold (Chemistry Tests),
Lavender (Complete Blood Count), and
Light Green (Metabolic Panel).
Then we've also done Grey (blood sugars), and Pink (blood typing, which I consider a huge waste since they keep testing and re-testing my blood type which won't change). I've also done a test for latent diseases in my serum (that might re-emerge if present when my immune shuts down), but I forget if that was drawn in a red or white tube.
**The Vein check occurred on 7th floor of the Gryzmish building, so I wished them a Merry Gryzmish, apparently only the second patient ever to do so.
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