27 replies to this topic

[momruns]

Greetings,

I have had 2 BMB the first having a bone biopsy as well.  I had them both at the first appointment slot and returned to work.  I am an operating room nurse so maybe I am lucky because I stand all day and did not have to worry about putting pressure on the area.  I did not like having the bone biopsy but the bone marrow portion was not horrible.  One the same page I did not think they were that bad but I absolutely have to prepare every 6 months to go to the dentist.  So to me everyone has their points of pain. 

Loreta

[0vercast]

Heartburn was the first symptom I experienced.  For months it was the only symptom.  I bet that when you ate, you were getting full on smaller portions than usual, weren't you?

[0vercast]

I don't think I'll ever take Versed again if I can help it.  I had a dose of it last week prior to a hernia surgery for an umbilical hernia that was caused by my spleen swelling last fall.  It made me completely forget a 6 hour period of the day, all the way from when I was wheeled into the operating room at 8am up until I was at home in my bed at 2pm trying to sleep off the anesthesia.  It's supposed to do that apparently.  Strong stuff.

[Taylor]

I've had two, both no sedation.  The first one I stayed in the hospital (I had to be there because I was just diagnosed and they didn't know what I had yet).  The second, I left work at 9AM and got back at about 11AM.  Both were biopsies and not just aspirations.  I will probably go back to work if I ever have to have another one, although I also would rather schedule it at the end of the day so I could just go home.

Aside from pain there shouldn't really be an issue with going back to work the next day.

[PhilB]

It depends what question you are asking...

If it's 'how long do I need to be off work' then, if you have it just with local anaesthetic rather than any sedation, they will probably want to keep you in for say 30 mins to make sure the wound isn't leaking too badly, but then you could go straight back to work.

On the other hand, if the question is 'how long can I get away with taking off work' then that depends on how squeamish your boss is.  If they are the kind of person who starts to turn green when you talk about the doc drilling a big hole in your pelvis with a bradawl then you should be able to string it out for a few days before you come in with an exaggerated limp acting heroic.  If you schedule the procedure for say the Tuesday you could come in on the Friday and do enough wincing that they send you home after lunch.  That gives you the weekend to 'recover' so you don't have to bother with too much acting when you come in the next Monday.

[luvmybees24]

Thankfully I wasn't working when I had my first one because I could barely move for a week. It's been 6 months and it's JUST now starting to not hurt. However, they had a hard time getting it. When I have another one in a year or 2 I plan on doing it on a school vacation (my profession is as a teacher). I don't think I could go straight back to work. My wound leaked blood for 5-6 days!

[Susan61]

Hi Laura:  Think positive thoughts that maybe you do not have to have a BMB anymore.  You might be able to just get PCR testing from now on.  I know doctors think differently, but once I got to a Complete Cytogenetic Response I never did another BMB test.  My doctor told me that if anything was going on he would see it start to show up in the blood work to indicate a BMB to look further, otherwise he gets all his information through the PCR Test.   I have been doing the PCR test now for 9 years with no BMB.  When I saw the new doctor, which I had mentioned.  The first thing he said was that I might have a mutation so I needed a BMB.   He saw all my records, and I said I did not want the BMB.  He insisted that I have it.  I said Good Bye, and that was over 2 years ago.  I think he was just trying to make some money, and look like he knew what he was doing.  I actually went and looked up the reviews that people give about this physician . The first review I saw was a woman who posted.

RUN RUN AS FAST AS YOU CAN BECAUSE THIS GUY IS A IDIOT. I had already made up my mind to see another doctor.  Thats why you did the right thing going to see Dr.Talpaz.  You will do good.

[felursus]

I think that was due to poor technique.  At my 2nd BMB - when I had been admitted to the hospital for induction chemo - my MD had his fellow start the BMB.   It became so painful that I told them to stop.  It was only when my MD said that he would take over that I realized that it was the Fellow.  After that, I was able to tolerate the procedure.  For my out-patient BMBs, my MD used a drill, and except for the pain/pinch of the lidocaine shots, I had only transient pain - which stopped as soon as he stopped.  For my very first BMB (when I was diagnosed), I had NO pain meds other than the lidocaine shots.  That BMB was done by Dr. Siddhartha Mukherjee (the auther of "The Emperor of All Maladies: An Autobiography of Cancer" - won the Pulitzer Prize - good, informative read).  After that I had a little stiffness that I noticed with certain movements (eg. crossing my legs).  That lasted about 2 weeks.  I had minimal bleeding after any of them - even the post-chemo BMB when my counts were low.