Three-Fer-One

I'm back home after my "three-fer" this morning of bone marrow biopsy, port installation, and lumbar puncture (in that order). The anticipation of these procedures was definitely worse than the procedures themselves. I only needed a little bit of sedation for the first two procedures and completely opted out of anxiety/amnesic medication that is fairly standard practice. For example, the nurse I worked with for most of the morning said that she typically administers 300-500mcg of Fentanyl for a single procedure and I only took a total of 200mcg for the first two combined. There was zero sedation or other meds for the lumbar puncture and I got to see the vial of 15mL of spinal fluid after the needle was already out of my back. I was surprised that the fluid was crystal clear- I must've had a different schema of what it would look like. The most painful part of the morning was by far the various shots of lidocaine, and the weirdest part was feeling the pressure and tugging on my chest during the port installation. It turns out that the port is purple, which somehow made me feel better about it, like it's a royal thing or something. It's called a Power Port because it can be used to administer IV contrast for CT scans using a special, fast needle as well as blood draws and chemo infusions. I'm definitely experiencing mild discomfort in the areas where the procedures took place, but am regulating it with Tylenol and a cat on my lap. I'm glad to have this morning behind me and so glad that I remember everything that was done today. It was definitely interesting to learn about the procedures, especially since I will likely have to go through each of them at least once more during this process.