Weekend update

My mom is gone now, which is always a let-down. It was really nice to have her here. We were able to schedule the bone marrow aspiration and bone biopsy on Friday, so at least she was able to be with me for that. I was really nervous, although it didn't end up being that bad. I guess that's one benefit of horribilizing something in your mind, often the reality isn't as bad as you build it up to be! The worst part of it was probably the numbing injections, and that only because of the stupid clonus in my leg. I warned the nurse beforehand, and she handled it pretty well. My nerves just freak out, especially on my left side, whenever there is a sudden change in sensation (drop of cold water, needle prick of an injection, standing up after sitting), and my leg will jerk involuntarily. I was worried it might continue to do it, even after the local anesthesia kicked in. But happily my leg calmed down after the numbing took effect. The first thing they did was the bone marrow aspiration. The nurse told me I have very hard bones. I told her my husband has always said I have a hard head! Anyway, she had to get a male technician to get the needle into the bone, so I guess she wasn't kidding. The bone marrow aspiration hurt some, but not that bad. I guess it is the shifting of the bone marrow that causes pain, so I can imagine that a full-fledged bone marrow extraction for an old-school bone marrow transplant would be very, very painful. It hurt enough just getting that little sample. After the aspiration, they did the bone biopsy, where they took a little core sample of my hip bone. I have seen the most interesting things about my own body during all of this! I've seen pictures of my brain and spinal cord, seen my own bone marrow, and a piece of my bone. I'd rather see my bones under these circumstances than any other!

I was glad my mom was there with me because my leg was not happy with me after the procedure. I wouldn't have been able to drive home. We wanted to stop in Brenham (about halfway between Houston and Austin), which is the home of the Blue Bell ice cream factory, and a really charming little town. This is the most beautiful time of year for the Texas countryside. The whole drive there and back was spectacular. All the trees are in full foliage, the grass is bright, bright green, and the wildflowers are in full bloom. Really, it was so beautiful. Anyway, our plan was to find a little ice cream shop in Brenham and wait there for a while so we wouldn't be driving into Austin during rush hour. Well, after driving around Brenham for a while, we found the perfect place, only to discover it had closed 10 minutes before. Oh well, I'll definitely go there next time I drive through! We ended up going to Cheesecake Factory when we got into Austin, so it was fine.

Saturday we drove out to Marble Falls to the Sweet Berry Farms to pick strawberries. That was another beautiful drive through the hill country, with views of Lake Travis between the cedar-covered hills. The farm was really fun! We picked a lot of strawberries, and ate a lot. Why are fresh-picked strawberries sooooo much better than those you buy at the grocery store? I don't get it. We ate strawberry popsicles and strawberry smoothies and had fun watching the animals around the farm. They had burros (kinda like donkeys, but a lot smaller and cuter), goats, chickens, etc. There was one goat that was very pregnant with what looked like twins, and I think she single-handedly ate half our big bag of pretzels (by the way, goats LOVE pretzels!). She butted away any other goat that came close to her. It was pretty amusing to watch. We already have eaten most of our strawberries (you'd think $15 of strawberries would last longer), but I do have one container in the freezer, so we'll have them for shakes or whatever else. We'll definitely make the Sweet Berry Farms a springtime tradition here.

My mom also helped me get some projects done, namely hanging a bunch of pictures that I never got around to last summer before I got sick. Now I need to update all the pictures in the frames!

So, that was our weekend. I think the next procedure I'll have is my first set of MRI's, but I am not sure when that will be. There is just no way to avoid multiple trips to Houston (we got into trouble because my schedulers were trying to do me a favor by scheduling all my tests at the same time, when that just can't be done!). But I am feeling more confident because I got the bone marrow aspiration done, and it wasn't that bad. I think the other stuff I have to do probably won't be that bad either.