March 14, 2023 PM Post

       The bone biopsy is now in the rearview mirror.  That’s a relief.  The doctor said pathology should have the results within 48 hours, which would be about the time I am scheduled to see the hematologist on Thursday morning.  Thursday will be a significant day for our family for more than one reason.
       I’m not sure you may want any great insight in the procedure.  If not, feel free to tune in again tomorrow.
       As is normal for most any procedure that is considered an outpatient procedure, the first step is getting the IV.  The young man who was inserting the IV had dangling earrings with small crosses on them.
       If you advertise, I will take the opportunity.  So I asked him, “Are the cross earrings just for jewelry or for some other reason?”  He said, “I am a believer but I need to be in church more.”  You’d expect I would agree with that.
       I will say that I didn’t know much about his theology or walk with the Lord, but I did find him to be quite Biblical while getting the IV started.  He went by the “seek and you will find” method.  Seeking for quite some time before finally finding.
       The doctor was a “peach” of a man.  Very personable and knowledgeable.  It didn’t take you long to see that he knew his stuff.
He’s about 6’5” tall.  I asked him if it is true that “the taller the doctor, the better the doctor?”  He said he wasn’t sure about that.  I told him that I hoped that to be the case.   He knew I was a pastor.  I told him “the shorter the preacher, the better the preacher.” 
       The surgeon convinced me that only having a local would be the better choice.  After going through it, I might reconsider if I have to have another bone biopsy. 
       He took 5-6 samples from my left hip.  Getting the samples were a piece of cake.  It was getting to the spot that was the challenge.
       For almost a half an hour I heard the sound of a small drill purring like you’d expect.   How else can you get to the inside of a bone? Uncomfortable, not terribly painful.  The worse pain of the day was when the nurse ripped off the tape that held down the IV.  I’m not sure that the hair will ever grow back.
       After having the “Mayo Diet” as some of the staff call it (That’s nothing to eat or drink that day) I headed back to the motel.  I ate some fruit and headed to the restaurant where some folks might just know me by name.
       Then, confession time.  I did it again.  I parked in the Senior Parking spot, this time for a very good reason.  I didn’t have to appear to be old; the limp was somewhat pronounced.  Just call me Jacob.  I didn’t wrestle with an angel.  I’d say in this one, the surgeon did most of the wrestling.
       Two days left in this round.  One more radiation treatment and then a day that may very well determine lots of things.
       It could be that I will need one more piece of data to determine if the calories in ice cream are worth it.  Based on the rest of the day, I am pretty confident that today’s data will go down on the yes side.
       Thanks again for your prayers.