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May 09, 2006

Sheila Greene

"Sheila Greene" is the pseudonym of a young New York woman who recently learned she has Hodgkin's Lymphoma. Her Live Journal includes an extremely funny and well-written account of her diagnosis and the treatment she's beginning now. She's rightfully optimistic; as she cheerfully explains, "Hodgkin's is the cancer to have, if in fact you must have cancer."

Here's a sample:

"So, we can do the bone marrow biopsy now if you agree." To which I said, "...Now? Really? ...Now? And, um, you said I *have* to have one, right?" It didn't take me long to decide that if the test was really necessary, I'd rather do it now than later -- I certainly wouldn't profit from having several days to worry about it. Surprise biopsies are the best kind of biopsies. But Mom and I were planning to meet Boyfriend Dan after the appointment (which was plainly going to last a little longer than I'd expected), and I wasn't sure how mobile I would be after undergoing the BMB, so I asked about this. "Oh, you can go out dancing tonight," Dr. H assured me. "Will it be painful?" I asked, and he said, "We numb the skin, and then we numb the bone." That wasn't exactly a "no."

...They extract the sample from your hipbone, because there's less flesh and more bone there (from what I understand). The "numbing" shot stung quite a bit (there was no pre-numbing numbing), but it worked; the next shot (into the bone?) wasn't painful, and I could only feel pressure when Dr. H punctured me with his big biopsy needle. This says a lot for the power of the numbing stuff he had injected into my butt only moments earlier, because I've seen pictures of the biopsy needle. I will spare you the link, but think of a meat thermometer and you won't be too far off. Still, I don't think anybody could really enjoy the experience of having a hole drilled into his or her hipbone, no matter how technically painless the experience might be. And even though I couldn't see what Dr. H was doing, I could feel him rocking the needle back and forth as it burrowed into my hipbone, and, whew, I am getting a little woozy just writing about it now.

Then he said, "Okay, now I am going to suck out the sample marrow, and I can't do anything about this pain." How reassuring! Now, I am here to tell you that the pain was not nearly as terrible as I'd been primed to expect. Maybe a 3 on a scale of 1 to 10. And it didn't last that long. But by this point I was so freaked out and anxious, and so sure that it would be excruciating, that I nearly fainted...

Then everybody left me to recover, and Mom came in, and although she was probably alarmed to see me hooked up to an IV and an oxygen tank, I think it was probably less traumatic than if she'd been present for the actual procedure. (I read another blog by a BMB survivor who said that the biggest mistake you can make during the biopsy process is watching the facial expressions of any loved ones who might be watching.)

ALSO: Here's an account by my Stutts classmate Glenn Fleishman of his own victory over lymphoma.

Posted at May 9, 2006 01:28 PM | TrackBack
Comments

"Sheila Greene" description of a BMB is stomach-clenchingly accurate. I had one done back in 1990 (for Hodgkin's as well), and went through the same medium-pain-weird-feeling-BIG-PAIN experience. I can remember gasping and instinctively reaching an arm out for something to grip as the marrow sample was taken. Luckily, there were no loved ones present, but unluckily, there was a small class of med students standing behind me to watch the procedure. Can't imagine they enjoyed it too much.

And she's right. Hodgkin's is the cancer to have -- well, as long as it's caught early.

Posted by: Ian at May 9, 2006 03:10 PM

Ian,

It seems it was indeed caught early, about as early as such things can be caught.

Posted by: Jonathan Schwarz at May 9, 2006 06:57 PM

I'll have to see if I agree with Sheila. I believe the cancer I have may be the-one-to-have if you have to have cancer. Its Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia. There are no symptoms from what I gather. If someone out there knows differently, keep it to yourself. I'm in denial. At this stage, the only problem is I heal slowly from a cut or catching a bug.

Its detected by white blood cell count. It isn't fatal and mine seems to have plateued with absolutely no treatment. The oncologyst said it will weaken my immune system and I'll eventually catch something else that will kill me. Years given me turned out to be about normal life expectancy anyway.

Posted by: Secret at May 9, 2006 07:21 PM