3 nearly faintings

I have this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neutropenia (right on the border of 'moderate' and 'severe', last time they checked)

And on Wednesday, I had one of these: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bone_marrow_biopsy

It was the most excruiciating and uncomfortable procedure ever. I have not given birth, so I cannot compare the two, but at least you could have an epidural when you are in labour. I had a local anaesthetic, which hurt very much as it was being injected. In fact, I almost fainted (#1). Luckily I was lying down.

Then the doctor took a sample of my bone marrow and also some bone from my hip. I'm not going to go into detail about how it felt to have a needle passed through bone to get to said marrow.. all I'll say is that you can still feel the bone marrow being sucked into the syringe, despite the anaesthetic. That was possibly the most painful part, and very unpleasant - not nice to feel something being siphoned from inside your body.

Jeremy was very supportive - he sat with me throughout the entire procedure. I think his hand has even almost recovered from being completely crushed..

Afterwards, I could hardly walk, it was so sore (yet still being numb from the anaesthetic). I nearly fainted in the waiting room afterwards (#2); I had gone into a shock a bit. Jeremy ran to get a nurse, and I managed to avoid passing out by lying down on the seats. The nurse brought a bed, and I was wheeled through the corridors to the day ward, where I had to lie for about an hour. At 11am Jeremy took me to work, but after 40 minutes I called him to take me home, as I had nearly fainted at my desk (#3). How embarassing!

So I spent the rest of the afternoon at home, taking ages to do anything which involved moving. And I watched Dr Phil, as any good invalid does.

It's Saturday now, and I am starting to walk around more comfortably. Sleeping is still pretty uncomfortable, because I can't put any pressure on my hip.

And that's my tale of woe for today. Back to cleaning the house. Jeremy is out all day and all night today, so I hired a movie I've been looking forward to seeing, and will thoroughly enjoy having some time to myself.

And tomorrow Jeremy and I are going to pretend it is Christmas, because our other Christmas will be spent miles away in a hotel. We even have stockings, and crossiants, and all the paraphernalia associated with Christmas morning.

I sort of do not really know what to write about anymore. A lot has happened in the past two weeks, and I am just a bit confused by it all. I do not really feel like writing about it, except to say that I have been (am) sick. And on Wednesday I am going back to the hospital for more tests. They do not really know what is wrong with me. Or if they do, they are making me wait until mid-January to tell me.

We leave for America soon. It will be an interesting experience. I hope I will still enjoy it as much as I had planned, in light of the point above.

I am wearing my new necklace that I bought for myself (if you want something done..), and it makes me feel good. It has two birds on it.

Jeremy and I have formed our own book club. We bought two books we had been thinking about buying for a long time, and are reading one each. Surprisingly, I am lagging behind - Jeremy has already finished his and I am only halfway through. That probably has something to do with going to bed at 8:30pm most nights. I am trying to finish my book by the time we leave, so that we have a fresh new book each for the trip, and a twelve hour (and two-week) journey to discuss.