Restaging day

Yesterday was the marathon day of restaging tests. We left home at 6:00 a.m. and got back at 9:00 p.m. Roads and weather were clear. Our GPS unit took us on a rather interesting tour of a ghetto-like area and downtown Denver on the way to the clinic. We saw four panhandlers on street corners, and two bag people with shopping carts overflowing with plastic bags. The testing took place at both Rocky Mountain Cancer Center and Presbyterian/St. Luke hospital. They are two separate buildings but only a block apart. P/SL is a really old hospital in the inner city so we were leery of going there -- but our experience proved it to be a great place full of caring highly skilled professionals. Everyone introduced themselves (sad to say, it doesn't always happen in the medical field) and gave us a good explanation of what they were doing. When we got lost we were escorted cheerfully to the right place.

We met first with Vicki, the transplant coordinator. She answered any questions we had and even showed Doug what the central line venous chest catheter looks like (see photo). It has three ports that will hang out of his chest; he will have it for about 8 weeks. That doesn't get implanted until March 6. We also met with the social worker and the financial coordinator who works closely with the insurance company. We got the transplant manual - a big book full of everything we need to know and pages for me to log "events".

Doug's first test was pulmonary function and I got a photo of him in the chamber. He said he had to blow until he thought he was out of air, then the tech told him to blow more! They used room air and then some mixture of gas also. Next was the sinus CT scan to make sure he doesn't have a hidden sinus infection. Then the echocardiogram to examine his heart. I got to stay in the room and it was very interesting to see Doug's heart beating, see the valve flaps open/close. The tech measured the heart chambers, blood flow and other stuff. Then off to X-ray again for the chest X-ray and skeletal survey. That took over an hour and Doug said the tech took x-rays of almost every bone in his body. That is to see how many bone lesions he has; we know it is a lot. Then back to the clinic for the rest of the tests. Weigh/measure, urine test, EKG, blood draw -- 12 tubes!

Doug said these above mentioned tests were not too bad, but they saved the rough one for last -- the bone marrow biopsy. I got to stay in the room for this too. He has had one BMB before, in the oncologist's office, and was not looking forward to another one. However at Rocky Mtn Cancer Center they use sedation: in addition to injecting huge amounts of lidocaine, they hooked up an IV with versed and fentanyl. Versed is a drug that makes you forget ("versed vacation") and fentanyl is a narcotic painkiller. The combination is called "conscious sedation". The first person who tried to do the BMB was a nurse practioner who does most of the BMB's for the clinic. She mentioned that it was more difficult with myeloma patients because their bone structure is altered. Well she tried three times and just could not obtain the core sample or aspiration. She kept checking with Doug to see if he was in pain and twice asked the assistant to give him more fentanyl. Finally she gave up and asked a doctor to come in and try. He also had trouble but after a while he got it. They said he was going to be pretty sore due to the extra "drilling".

This morning he had to take one of his morphine pills, which he hates and almost never takes. He's napping now, poor baby.

It was a long drive home; we arrived safe but tired. I'm not a night driver but said a prayer, especially when it started snowing. The snow stopped, and God delivered us back home. These test were very comprehensive and took all day. Doug was a trooper, no complaining. The purpose of all this is to make sure he is healthy enough to undergo the transplant procedure, and to "restage" and check the status of the disease after the initial chemo. We are really impressed with the team who will be taking care of Doug and feel we are in good hands.

Thanks to Kathy Lentz, our wonderful neighbor who came over and cared for the dogs. Now we get to resume our lives until we go back on March 5.