I Survived the Tests

This morning I went in for a bone marrow aspiration. First they took some blood and then I had to lay on my side and the doctor numbed my hip. That burned a little bit but then I just felt pressure. The doctor must have used a needle shaped like a screw because I could tell he was making a twisting motion. It was a bit painful when they actually started to draw out the marrow. I just took deep breathes as the nurse suggested and it was over pretty quickly. Then they needed to take a small piece of bone. That hurt a little bit but not as prolonged as the aspiration. I think the worst part was just being stuck in an uncomfortable position for so long. The incision on my chest was kind of squished but was more of just a discomfort than pain. They put a pressure bandage on me that I can take off tomorrow morning. I had to lay there for about 40 minutes and they came and checked my blood pressure three times before I could go. My hip still aches a bit but nothing I can't manage. Feels like a bruise from falling. Next I went to the cardiology department. They stuck me in the other arm to put in an IV. He injected something that had to circulate for about 20 minutes. Then I laid down on the table and he injected me with the radioactive stuff. He positioned the camera (a big rectangular box) at an angle to me and it was close enough to be against the corner of my glasses. I had to lay there for 8 minutes while the camera recorded the images of my heart. Then he moved it so it was parallel to my chest above me. Another 8 minutes after that I was done. It seemed like a long time. I had a little bit of a longer break as I made my way from the clinic to the hospital. It was time for the pulmonary function test. She had me do things like breathe in, hold it, and then breathe out as long as I could while I had a tube in my mouth. I could see the computer monitor and normal breathing looked like a nice sine curve. We all use math everyday (to quote one of my favorite TV shows). At one point I was enclosed in a little booth (maybe it was pressurized?) and I had to put my hands against my cheeks and pant. The last test was after I had used an inhaler 4 times. I had to breathe in and then blow hard into the machine. It wasn't as bad a day as I thought it might be and hopefully I passed everything. We'll find out the results over the next week or so.