91. Bone Biopsy, results and a trip away

I had my bone biopsy on September 2nd.  That seems like a long time ago but it’s only a few weeks.  A friend dropped me off at the hospital at 9.55am and I walked in the front door and then turned right up the corridor towards the medical imaging department.  I didn’t even need to look at the signs this time as I’ve been there enough to know the route without getting lost.  I checked in and filled out the form so that it could be bulk billed to Medicare.  I’d been fasting since midnight and had only had a sip of water with my tablets.  I was really hoping that they wouldn’t be running late.  Around 10.20am a nurse came to get me and run through what was going to happen.  She was a bit unsure if the doctor wanted to do it under ultrasound or under CT and we happened to run into him in the corridor on the way to get changed.  It was the same doctor that had put in Persephone.  Should I tell him he should’ve taken my ‘ample breasts’ into account and that said port was a right pain in the chest area from the get go?  Maybe I shouldn’t do that before he sticks me with multiple needles.  He said under ultrasound would be fine.  

The nurse takes me to a room and gives me a gown, a fabric one, to put on.  This one actually closed over my front which is so nice.  It really makes a huge (literally) difference not having those boobs anymore.  I guess you could say it is more environmentally friendly as they only have to wash one gown and not two for me now.  After getting changed the nurse leads me to a bed and takes my blood pressure, 119/82, heart rate 86 and oxygen levels 99%. She chats for a little bit and then goes away and says it won’t be long.  

She was right, it was only about 10 mins later and she comes and wheels me into a room.  There is an ultrasound machine to my right and a trolley with a tray on top with medical things like wipes, needles etc.  Another nurse comes in, she will be running the ultrasound machine.  Then the doctor comes in.  Just a local anaesthetic.  He wipes the stinky antiseptic stuff on me and then sticks me about 8 times in various areas around my left clavicle joint near my throat.  After the first couple I don’t feel the sting anymore.  I know from experience if you wiggle your toes while being stuck it doesn’t sting as much.  After poking me a few times and asking if I can feel any pain (no, I can’t) he holds the ultrasound wand in his left hand and then the bone biopsy needle in his right.  I can’t really see what he is doing as there is a operation drape thing over me and it obscures my view.  The drapes were massive. I could’ve hidden under them full length and nothing of me would stick out.  The nurse comments “I probably could’ve used a smaller drape”.  

I felt pressure when he stuck in the needle and heard the click of it pulling up pieces of my bone.  It reminded me of my boob biopsy and I’m hoping I don’t get the same crazy bruising like I did then! (I didn’t, probably only 20c piece size) I could feel the needle scrap across my bone each time he inserts it so he gets a different place.  When he takes a sample, the nurse on the ultrasound takes a picture of the place he took it from.  While he is doing this he is talking about a patient that came to his wife.  Sounds like she is a GP.  This lady went as she was sure she had Mpox but the doctor said his wife thought it highly unlikely but did the tests anyway. Turns out the patient was right.  I felt this discussion was extremely inappropriate while he was jabbing needles into me. Not just that he was obviously not fully paying attention but he was talking about some other person’s medical history in front of me and the other two nurses.  Strike two for this doctor in my opinion.  

On the fourth jab I hear the doctor say “I just bent the needle, never done that before.”  I ask him to repeat what he said and then I started laughing.  He asked me why I was laughing and I told him that there is always something weird and out of the ordinary when I have procedures and tests.  I mention that I know my bones are strong from my bone mineral density scan last year and it’s obviously true.  The nurse goes off to get another needle but when she comes back he tells her not to open it as he thinks it should be enough for the 4 passes he had done.  I am glad as I can start to feel a dull ache starting across my clavicle.  He wipes my puncture wounds a few more times and then put a dressing on. It’s the waterproof one and leave it on for 48 hours.  I asked about exercise and he said “give yourself a few days off and then go back as normal, just not too intense for a week or so.  Train within your pain levels.”  He walked out.

I ask the nurse why did I have to fast and she said that sometimes people needs anti anxiety medication or even more sedation during the procedure so they just make sure everyone fasts in case.  She wheels me back out of the room and then says have a rest for about 10 mins and if I feel ok then I can get dressed.  Results should be back in 4-5 days.  I send another friend a message to say I’m done. I go and sit out the front of the hospital to wait for her.  I was done a lot quicker than I thought which is nice.  She brings some yoghurt and fruit with her so I can eat something.  What a champion!!  I’m home by 12.18pm.  

The ache doesn’t get too bad but did increase and at night I did take some pain killers to help me sleep as it was quite annoying.  That week I did some sewing, made a very cute dress for my niece Zaeli out of fabric I designed with a picture she drew of a powerful owl.  She turned 5 last week.  The sleeves gave me a lot of grief but they totally made the dress super cute.  I wasn’t too stressed about the results and I figured if they were bad ones I would get a call quicker.  On Friday I got a message from the breast nurse to say that I hadn’t been forgotten about and some results were back and some were still pending. My birthday was on the 8th and the family got together on the Sunday.  Often I have a combined party with Pither as his birthday is the 6th.  

Monday evening the Rheumatologist called me at 6.15pm.  Working late!  She seemed surprised that my oncologist hadn’t told me the results as they had come in through the week as she said she had been getting them in dribs and drabs.  She says “There was no metastasis found in the bone samples taken and no infection has grown in 7 days.  I was surprised about that one.  I was also surprised at your blood tests.  The first one showed quite high inflammation markers and lower kidney function and then the second one less than a week later showed normal kidney function and inflammation levels were basically normal again.  I would like to do some tests again and add a few other ones.”  She asks me did I have any questions and I mentioned she was very particular about saying “no metastasis in the sample taken” and she said “yes, we can only go on what as tested but we will keep a close eye on you.”  I mention how the first blood test I was on the abemaciclib but the second blood test I’d been off it for a couple of days .  She asked if there was any changes in  how I felt being off that medication and I said my joint and muscle pain was a lot worse, especially in my hands and fingers.  She wanted an ultrasound on them to see what was going on.  I mentioned to her that it would be interesting to have a scan before going on the meds again and then after and see if there is any differences.  I mentioned the poo issues on those meds and she says she wants to have a poo test as well.  

Kim called then next day and said I could start up the abemaciclib again so I did that night.  Within four and a half hours I could feel less stiffness and pain in my hands and fingers and my other joint pain was less.  The next day it was better still.  I’d say it was a good 30% better.  I had the ultrasound on my hands and wrists that afternoon and there is a bit of inflammation in the tendons coming off my thumbs but nothing major.  I mention to the lady about the medication and she did think it was plausible.  So, it’s a choice between being able to move and less pain, or having a better feeling gut and more diarrhoea.  I think I’ll choose less pain as that is more constant.  I also told her the outcome from Quasimodo as she had done the ultrasound and had been confused about what it was. She thanked me and said she is always happy to know what happens after she does her thing.

I saw my GP last week for my zoladex #16 injection.  She told me the results on my hand ultrasound.  I forgot to ask her what the food one said but obviously nothing bad as she didn’t bring it up.  I updated her about bone biopsy results and what other things will happen.  I haven’t had the next blood test yet and I didn’t get a referral for the poo test. I did email the rheumatologist about it but haven’t heard back yet.  

On the non medical front I got my bicycle serviced a couple of weeks ago.  I got the handle bars raised higher and also some more comfy handle bars so I can move my hands in different places when they get sore while riding.  About a kilometre away we have a cycle track where you can do loops around.  400m, 900m, 1,200m loops.  It will help my knee to do more cycling.  Also, the stationary bike at my exercise class died, well, a pedal broke off.  A new one was purchased in case the old one can’t be fixed.  This new one the seat is rated to 150kg but it definitely isn’t as I’m not close to that anymore and the seat slides down even when tightened up the most it can be.  A design flaw. The other bike had a screw that went in so it couldn’t fall down. This new one is a lever you tighten.  So it is good I got my bike all up and running again.  

From the 17th -23rd I had a holiday in Talbingo in the Snowy Mountains with one of my best friends who came up from Ballarat.  The stay was a donated gift to the Otis Foundation.  The cottage we stayed in is called Overflow and it is on Air B&B.  I highly recommend staying there.  It has everything you could want, just not a kitchen rubber spatula so bring you own!   No wifi and very limited phone reception.  It was wonderful being unplugged. A fire pit in the backyard was so amazing with the full moon rising over the mountains.  We went and swam in the thermal pool at Yarrangobilly Caves twice, we did a few hikes there too.  We walked in the wetlands and along the Tumut River.  We tried to walk over the Blowering Dam wall but it was closed.  I found out at the information centre that there had been a landslide on the walk so it was close indefinitely.  The dam was fine, just the walk to get up to it.  On Saturday we climbed Warogong Sugarloaf mountain.  11k, 606m elevation gained, 6 hours and 51 second.  The top is 950m above sea level and looks out over the Tumut Valley on one side and Blowering Dam on the other.  It was amazing but HARD!  Extremely steep in quite a number of places and my hiking sticks and knee brace were invaluable.  I didn’t get any sore muscles really, just a little bit in my calves and my arms.  My left knee though was screaming at me about 1/4 of the way down and I’ve been hobbling since.  Progressively less hobbling each day and it was very hot and now just a little hot on the outside.  Sunday we checked out the Tumut 3, or T3, hydro electric dam station with the huge pipes coming down the hill. We went and had a look at Talbingo Dam and spillway too.  In the afternoon I went and visited some friends who live in Gocup, 10 mins outside of Tumut, which was wonderful as I hadn’t seen them since 2020.  Looks like I’ll be house and animal sitting for them in January.  They have a dog, cat, rabbit, 4 chooks and 4 sheep.  They have the most amazing and stunning view over the Tumut valley from their house.  

Yesterday I came home.  It was an easy drive.  Took just under 5 hours of travel time and I got back home by 2.30pm.  I unpacked and put some washing on and then had a bit of a rest before going to my exercise physiologist appointment.  Now that there is more definitive results as to what is happening with my clavicle he wants to start me on some more intense assessments.  We didn’t do anything yesterday apart from plan what to do going forward as my knee was still “angry” as he put it but I have an appointment tomorrow where we will go into the ‘altitude room’.  This is set to 2,500m altitude so 6 mins effort is the same as 1 hour effort.  He also mentioned sending me to a special sports physiologist. There is a lady who worked on athletes for the olympic team. It might take a while to get in but there is no rush even if it’s next year.  He thinks there is some other issue with my biomechanics pre cancer that is now going nuts because of the cancer and treatments and abuse my body has gone under.  

Today is a quieter day.  Doing some more washing, writing my blog, catching up on my sewing videos and my weekly sewing projects.  The photo is from the top of Warogong Sugarloaf Mountain.