Today we ventured over to St. Jo’s here in St. Paul for a bone marrow biopsy. We’ve been there a lot lately, and they’re unfailingly kind & thoughtful (valet parking!!)
According to Gerry, it was about as painful as you’d expect. He said he couldn’t decide whether knowing it was coming made it more or less painful, but the doctor asked me to wait outside while they took a sample from the bones in both of Gerry’s hips. His hips (and ribs) have been painful, so it may be that there resides a myeloma pocket. We’re still waiting for the official diagnosis.
Tomorrow is a full body scan to check for further fractures. Poor Gerry. Moving around is very painful for him, his ribs ache, his hips are sore. I feel like I need to be more proactive in some way to get quicker care for him (but things are moving very quickly – honestly – too quickly!)
So I sat with some nice guys who were getting their chemo and we talked about motorcycles, dogs, Imus (EVERYONE in the ward had an opinion on that!) and knitting. While we were chatting a musician showed up and played her harp, I sat knitting – we presented a very homey picture of life in 19th century Ireland (in a chemo ward)
Just sitting and talking to folks felt good, and I was sorry that Gerry wasn’t able to just sit around and shoot the breeze with these guys after his procedure. But he was pretty dopey and in pain, so we got home as soon as we could, in time for a nice visit with a friend who brought her son for a MUCH anticipated playdate for Maxie.
I did get a lot of knitting done today, and have my VK project almost finished. I wrote up the pattern this evening, and I’m ready to dive more firmly into a Lorna’s Laces project tomorrow – back at the hospital! They really do try to make the experience as low-stress as possible, and it’s so appreciated!
But stress is definitely here – and it’s still too chilly to spend much time outside (which would be a nice stress reliever) The stress is making me want to eat a LOT, which I try hard not to do – I feel like every pound that Gerry’s lost is firmly planted around my middle. I wrote to some friends that I’d like to get down to my fighting weight (and I don’t mean Sumo…)
Han’s got a crush on a boy down the street, it seems to be reciprocated (this week) and she ‘ran into him’ at the park after school. Hmmmm. It’s too soon for THIS kind of stress!
A note on comments – I’m sorry they’re showing up so late and all in a batch! My email is really wacky these days, I’m just too busy to investigate it in depth, but for some reason the comments aren’t showing up in my comments moderation except in big batches hours and hours after they’re posted. Oh, well…