Wednesday, Day 2: Leukemia

Micah had a pretty good night in the ICU.  Of course the night was interrupted with the normal routine of vitals, changing out fluids, hanging antibiotic, blood work, and x-rays.  I didn’t really sleep much.  Trying to process all of this keeps my mind awake and therefore the rest of me is stuck on the ride.

Dr. Rooms preformed the bone marrow biopsy in Micah’s room under conscious sedation.  Micah went to sleep well and Mark and I left the room while the procedure was performed.  We were told he did very well and when we returned to his bedside all of his numbers were good. 

Information about a bone marrow biopsy – (information from Wikipedia)

An aspirate needle is inserted through the skin using manual pressure and force until it abuts the bone. Then, with a twisting motion of clinician’s hand and wrist, the needle is advanced through the bony cortex (the hard outer layer of the bone) and into the marrow cavity. Once the needle is in the marrow cavity, a syringe is attached and used to aspirate (“suck out”) liquid bone marrow. A twisting motion is performed during the aspiration to avoid excess content of blood in the sample, which might be the case if an excessively large sample from one single point is taken.

Subsequently, the biopsy is performed. A different, larger needle is inserted and anchored in the bony cortex. The needle is then advanced with a twisting motion and rotated to obtain a solid piece of bone marrow. This piece is then removed along with the needle. The entire procedure, once preparation is complete, typically takes 10–15 minutes. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bone_marrow_examination)

Micah is where he is really loved!

Since Micah had remained stable during the night, he was going to be transferred to our “home away from home” the Oncology Unit on the 10^th floor of OU Children’s Hospital.  The only difference is he spent all of his time during the first two cancer treatments on the regular unit and now we will be spending all of our time in the Stem Cell Unit. 

It was like a reunion for Micah returning to the 10^th.  The nurses, doctor’s, physical therapist, and others all came by to see him.  He is so loved by our OU Children’s Hospital community.  The nurses used the white board in his room to fight over which one was his first and favorite nurse.  It really lifted his spirits.

We received the preliminary report on the biopsy.  It confirmed the diagnosis – Leukemia, specifically, Acute Myelocytic Leukemia.  I am creating a Leukemia Information page here on the blog for a more comprehensive description of Micah’s new cancer adversary.