NOVEMBER 20

Today was a long day for us. Gary had to meet at the Transplant Center at 7:45am for a consult of all the test he would be having done in the next few days. The nurse handed him this bright orange backpack to hold the folder of all the test instructions. It was kind of a slap in the face to have something so tangible, bringing it all into reality that this is really going to happen.

At 8:15am, Gary went in to have a Bone Marrow Biopsy done. This is his second one, so he knew what to expect and was not looking forward to it. The next few days will be painful until the puncture wounds heal. From there, slightly woozy from the sedative, we walked to another building to have more blood drawn and other laboratory work done. Then on to yet another building for an electrocardiogram. After that, and another long walk, Gary had another PET scan done. Finally, at 1pm, he was able to eat after fasting all night. After lunch, we walked again to another building for Gary to have a sinus x-ray, and by this time, I was afraid I would have to carry him to the car! Not only exhaustion, but being sedated for the biopsy and later given a Valium during the PET scan, he was starting to fade fast. All of this is part of the screening process for the bone marrow transplant. Tomorrow will be another full day of test.