So on the normal pain scale of 1-10 with 10 being passed out, where does a bone marrow biopsy rate?

Doc wants me to have one. The same doc who says I might have ITP. The cure for that is the steroid I've been taking for the last 2 weeks at max quantities so I'm a little nervous about the biopsy.

Basically he's saying I might have something that I've already taken the cure for but still have the issue. Makes no sense. It's like claiming your car ran out of gas while doing 90mph on the highway, 15 minutes after filling up and the needle is resting on full.

Makes no sense.

Anyway - how bad's this gonna sting?

Let's put it this way: you won't like him any more than you already do, but you will learn something that you'd hope the interrogation fellas use on AQ detainees.

Dont know bout biopsy, but donating marrow aint too bad, they drilled a hole in my hip and sucked a bunch out, stinks like hell though.

Gunner

actually it does make sence.....you may have cured the issue but the damage that issue caused may not be healed yet......atleast i think thats what they are getting at from the info....

never had a bone marrow biopsy so no clue there....have heard they arent fun

From what I understand it does not beat childbirth pain, but it's not a walk in the park either. They will freeze the area, and partially sedate you if your pain tolerance level is low.

Somewhere between an infected corneal laceration and blowing the bicep tendon off of your shoulder and the subsequent surgery.

Any more questions?

Real answer; I don't have a clue, but my son, who had it done when he was 16, said that it hurt less than the needle biopsy of his liver. He said the pain was mostly gone in a couple of hours, just some soreness.

Ed

Hmm - I guess we'll ride the ride and see what happens then. Nothing I can really do about it. Said they'd take it from my hip area.

RE: ITP Are you a bleeder? Do you have any rash?

No personal experience with bone marrow biopsy, only anecdotal. It's not fun, but not as bad as it sounds either. Again, only anecdotal.

Before or after? Maybe should have put a little oil on that drill bit. Cooked meat smells mo better!

Cure and treatment are two different things. You are only cured if the treatment works. Sounds like the treatment is not working, at least as well as they hoped. I can tell you steroids are first line therapy for ITP, but they are not always successful. Especially if the diagnosis of ITP is not correct.

I don't know much about the pain other than it's usually associated with some, but my loose understanding is that the pain is variable and dependent on stuff.

Wish you well man, hope they get you figured out and healed up soon.

No a bleeder - had a rash when I started this journey.

Little pissed they didn't do a platelet count today.

3/3 my count's 151
3/5 my count's 110 (IIRC)
3/11 my count's 91

All while on prednisone which is supposedly given to people to INCREASE the platelet count.

3/13 we actually cut my prednisone dose quite a bit as it wasn't doing anything for the inflamation/pain.


Seems to me, as a curios creature that if a person's platelet counts kept dropping while on massive doses of steroids designed to increase the count, I'd want to know what it was now that the steroid dose had been reduced to see just how far it's dropping.

Just me and maybe I'm wrong and maybe he's just planning on seeing the biopsy but that's an indicator that takes a ton of time - simple draw and count and he'd know before he left for the day.

I assist on a lot of Bone Marrow biopsies. The short answer, depends on you.

They numb the area pretty well, but anyone who's had numbing shots knows they sting like hell until the crap kicks in.

Then the doc, makes a little cut, about 2mm with the tip of a scalpel and begins to probe the anterior hip to find the spot he's looking for. When he finds it, he starts with a tool that looks a lot like one of those things they use to push rubber plugs into tires to seal a nail hole. This tool is sort of a mini auger. He's making a hole and will take a couple of core samples with it.

After he has a hole, he's got to suck out some marrow. This is the part that some people find a bit painful. At the same time, I've had patients who don't even feel it much. Other's react like they're being murdered.

He uses a little pump to draw a bit of marrow into a receptacle. Maybe does this twice. Then it's over. A pressure bandage and a little ice pack and you're done.

Most patients don't even ask for tylenol later. Some residual soreness.

Dan

LOL

Gunner

I'm gonna bring my own bullet to bite down on.

I'd go with a wooden spoon.

Seriously, I really hope the docs get you fixed up properly, Andrew.

I'm pulling for you..

Teal, haven't had one but had some hip bone chipped off to provide a fusion and it was a two bullet deal coming out of surgery.

The right meds at the right time would change that...

It's not as bad as a doctor telling your mother that you might have pancreatic cancer,I can tell you that.
It's a soft 5. Getting to the bone is what is uncomfortable.
I'd rather deal with that than a root canal.

From actual experience I can tell you that on it's own, it's about a 5 to 7.

Compared to a liver transplant, it's a 1.

My aunt said the bone marrow biopsy was way worse than childbirth.

Claim to be a pain wuss,it can't hurt to try.

They will make it feel about a 5-7 like was said and you will feel like someone ran a truck over your hip for a few days.

I'm not worried about the pain meds after. Sitting on Percocet and Clonazapam here for a bit. Should help.

Thinking I'm a little more worried about why they WANT the sample. I mean, to me it's not a little thing so they must think there's something special worth looking at with it.

Dang Andrew---Pulling for ya' man. Godspeed for whatever is messing with your body.

My Mother asked me about a small rash just today. Now I am going to definitely get it checked. Was the pain before or after the rash?

Hang in there!

David

Wife's had several...she said "3". I've had one, I said "6". Guess I'm a p uzzy!

The reason why is in the last paragraph:

http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-...pura/basics/tests-diagnosis/con-20034239

When is this biopsy ?

i once let the ER doc scrape burnt skin off my hands with no pain meds, it was interesting, he was surprised i was able to take the pain.

Thursday am. EARLY so maybe I can sleep through it.

Pain was before - way before and to a level where I couldn't walk. Literally could not walk so I went into the doc.

I'm not convinced it's only ITP as it doesn't explain the extreme pain in the feet or elbows (at times). I'm also not having any issue with bleeding, anywhere/time or place. They even checked my urine for broken down blood. Negative.

Also had hypersensitivity in my ears. Outer edge of my ears hurt and were swollen like frost bite.

At the peak, my feet had good circulation, strong pulse but were easily 5 to 6 degrees colder than my shin, only 4 inches away.

I'm now up to 5 doctors and at least 4 nurse practitioners (losing count on all) tell me that my situation is weird, they don't have any idea what's going on and I'm a friken rubiks cube to them.

Didn't someone post a "prescription drug" thread here awhile ago. Might want to check that one out for reference.

Good Luck with the procedure.

Always get the pain meds. If you don't need them , I'll take em for you!

Andrew,

Best of luck with the procedure and prognosis. Some things are just harder to find and harder to diagnose. Keep us posted.

Isn't is a shame after what doctors charge these days they aren't required to give you a warranty?

I would rate it as a five to six. Far from the most painful procedure I've had but not pleasant.

Teal, are you still in pain now? Did it abate some when you started the prednisone? I believe the biopsy is more to rule out than rule in. And that's a good thing. You're in good hands.

We'll be thinking good thoughts early Thursday.

Done with the biopsy. Hurt worse than I expected but didn't take long. Hard to describe the feeling but it wasn't pleasant. Probably felt worse because you sort of know what he's doing in there - jabbing a hole in your bone.

He really had to dig on me to get through the bone or whatever. Did it twice to get what he needed. The actual removal of the marrow wasn't too bad.

Rolling on the oxycodone and some McDonald's hash browns.

I'll live but I have a feeling I'll be a lot more sore in a few hours.

Comparing anything to child birth is BS. Modern women get epidurals. Worst pain I ever felt was getting a shot in my disc. The second worst was kidney stone. I had them pull bone out of my hip for a wrist fusion, but I was under general. Sore for a few days, and just make sure you don't sneeze for two days or you will talk to God.

Once had to have some surgery on my upper lip due to a dog bite.

Injecting the lidocain (?) into your lip wasn't a fun one. Especially because he had to do it in about 6 different places.

Later I could then smell my own flesh burning as he cauterized his work. Made sense as it's directly under your nose but it's a weird thought - smelling your own lip on fire.

I'd agree with this. Woman has a kid, within 2 years they're talking about having another one. No one would go through that much pain twice if it was that bad.

Kick a man in the nuts. No matter how much time nor whiskey goes by - he'll never say "you know, I'd like another swift kick in the nuts - let's do that again"

haha, valid point!

Women like to act like they have it so bad. Most women have never even smashed their thumb with a hammer, so I guess they need something to relate.

A good friend went through five hours of hemorrhoid surgery with no anesthetic of any kind. Think about it for a while and all your pain will seem like nothing. The doctor told him after the surgery that it was strange to talk with the patient while preforming the surgery, and the only time he had ever do it.

Oh, I'm glad you are through it and on the recovery side. How long until you know the results?

1 week till I know the results. They had to send them to California for some parts.

OK, got you covered with prayer.

Thanks. Just recuperating now.

Pain scale is meaningless as everyone's tolerance is different. And almost everyone who actually says that they have a "high pain tolerance", don't. The folks who actually do, they just don't mention it. Just my experience from over 20 years in the medical front lines.

I hope for your sake everything checks out and you start feeling better.

also depends on what....never had headaches growing up....can stand alot more pain in my knees than in my head....well other than my jaws, last time i had work done at the dentist he said he would keep working as long as i could stand it...told him i dont have pain nerves in my teeth and told him he would get tired before i did and i was right my wife can and has ignored pain to the point it becomes life threatening but she has suffered from migraines since she was a teenager and thinks child birth was no big deal....

Used to work with a bunch of women in my late teens. One used to go on and on about how child birth was the worst possible pain a human could endure and how if a man had to go through it he would die.

One day I got tired of if and told her, "Lets go down to the burn center and ask someone who's having their burnt skin scrubbed off which is more painful". Not sure if I changed her mind, but she never brought it up around me again.

Teal, Glad you made it through it. I'm sure it was tough. Wishing you the best diagnosis next week.

Hip still hurts like hell - percocet's worn off and I'm reluctant to do another round.

Results should be in next Friday.

I have appointment for the Mayo Clinic on April 7 to see what's what with the feet issue. My luck I'll be pain free and ready to dance by then and it will be a waste. Kinda like how the car stops making that noise the second you pull in the service shop....

Here's hope for good news, Teal.

Hoping for this, Andrew.

My pain level scale was forever altered about 20 years ago when I had a extra large thrombosed hemorrhoid lanced.

Actually, the lancing part didn't hurt, but the novocaine needle plunged into it beforehand caused me to make animal noises.

I had major surgery years later and they were giving me percocet and morphine for pain control afterwards and I was thinking, "What's all the fuss about? This is a piece of cake compared to having your bunghole cut on."