A 3rd Bone Marrow Biopsy

Well, we started up the blog again with music, pumpkins are on the way - I guess we should hit upon another one of the major themes of the blog: What the $#%^ is going on with Mary's blood? (Hopefully, we'll get some hikes and comic book stuff soon!)

Mary has done an excellent job of keeping an in-depth record. If you need to catch-up, check out her recent blog post. But let me tell you about this week, where she leaves off in her post (she much prefers the interaction of Facebook and keeps most of her stories there.)



Short version- She checked herself into a hospital on Tuesday. She had a bone marrow biopsy on Wednesday. She was released on Thursday (with enough time for a nap at home and made it to the Grouplove show.)

Why did she have to go to the hospital? Primarily, two reasons:

1) She had a low-grade fever and a swollen gland. She needed some antibiotics and the doctor thought it best to administer them through IV.

2) The biggest issue with her heath has been her neutropenia, her lack of neutrophils which are the workhorses of the white blood cells and thus immune system. The other blood numbers were mostly fine. This single focus led to most people saying it was a problem of "destruction" not "production." Something is attacking the neutrophils, but she is making them fine. However in the past couple of weeks, we have seen a drop in both her red blood cells and platelets. This could be an indicator of production problems, which is the bone marrow.  That is why the doctor wanted to peek at her bone marrow again. The big problem is still the neutropenia (she has literally had 0 neutrophils in a couple of her readings lately) - the other blood lines being down is more a concern as an indicator, rather than a danger in itself.

While the bone marrow biopsy was considerably less painful than the 2nd one (which Mary feels was more painful than childbirth) it was still a difficult one. The doctor had to basically go in three times. He was getting dry pulls - and even the third "wet pull" looked like it may be lacking in a decent sample for diagnosis. This sucks for two reasons - (a) did she go through that and not even get a sample? and (b) was the sample difficult to get because she has less marrow? (possible.)

We'll know more early next week. Anyway, the conversation has currently changed a bit after being kind of stagnant. Things that Mary "didn't have" are back in as possibilities. But it is all still unknown and TBD. She is working at getting into Stanford to work with a well-known hematologist there. She has an appointment with a specialist in Seattle. We haven't closed the door on UCSF either.

Also, we haven't been told that Mary needs bone marrow, but someone out there does - and it will save their life. Be a superhero. (It is only a cotton swab in the mouth.)