Lumbar Puncture AKA "Spinal Tap"

Another day, another procedure. I was told that I would be at the hospital for 4 to 6 hours and that I would need someone to drive me home but that I could be dropped off. Not knowing if family would be able to stay with me, I had David drop me off on his way to court at 8 AM and asked my Aunt Kay to come at noon to take me home. Everything fell into place perfectly.

This morning was the day of my Lumbar Puncture (LP) A.K.A. "Spinal Tap" and I am fine!!! That's right, believe it or not, I would take the LP, at this hospital with this doctor, over the 4 hour MRI any day!
They used a C-Arm, with an X-Ray devise which made this precise and painless. The only pain was the wasp like injection of numbing stuff in my back. Anyway, David dropped me off, went to court and decided to come back when court was over; which just so happened to be in time to spend several minutes with me before they took me back. He walked back with us, met the Doctor and was able to stay a bit during recovery. Aunt Kay arrived just in time to come to my side as David left. I was doing so well after the 40 minute procedure, that the hospital discharged me only 1 hour after the tap was over. Luckily, I have been instructed to rest for 24 hours, laying back as much as possible. Yea!

The main reason for this test (in my opinion) is for the study in Texas. It was not required by the specialist, Dr. McClain, in Houston for treatment just a request for their study. They want another LP after my 12 months of Chemo which I am more than happy to provide. Doctor #1 (Chowdhary) however, felt this was necessary to check if the hisiocytes are present in the spinal fluid. My main focus was making sure the hospital staff had the instructions for sending a test tube to Texas - I was not about to go through with it if they couldn't provide a sample for research. So, I asked every person I encountered about this and everyone there was so nice. Not once, did any of them tell me that I would have to freeze it and ship it myself (yes, this is what my original Oncologist told me - sure, I'll put it next to the Popsicles!). How absurd, I mean, who has ever had to ship out their own blood draws to labs? No one gave me a hard time and each one made sure the next person with me knew I wanted to make sure this happened. Even during the procedure, I heard them check that they had the one for Dr. McClain. Whew!

Now a little bit about the doctor that did the LP! He was awesome! I wish Dr. Hsaio could be my nuero-oncologist. I like him the best so far but he is not a contestant in my Dr. Dating Game! As David said, "He gets it!" When he first introduced himself to me, he asked if I knew why I was having the LP to begin with. When I said it was for LCH-CNS, he said, "I read your MRI from Saturday, you are a fascinating case." He is with the neurology department at Florida Hospital and he does LPs, Chemo treatment that enters the spine directly and reads MRI's and X-rays. I've never gotten to meet the doctor who read my MRI and wrote the report for it. This was so cool. I got to ask him his take on the whole situation - he looked at my scans again and we had a nice chat. His observations of the MRI from Saturday compared to the one in January is that "The lesions are definitely extensive, but the signal is not as intense as in January." He also added that he did see a progression compared to my 2005 Scan." The contrast die they inject for the MRI picks up some kind of activity, hence "Hyper-Intensive Activity in the Brain Stem." He asked if I have seen an improvement in my symptoms. It was then that I realized I haven't had any migraines in a while. My other symptoms have been the same for the last month though. So, I got to ask the million dollar question, "Knowing what you know about my case and seeing the lesions, would you go through a rough year of Chemo with the chance of stopping it?" He replied with confidence, "Absolutely!" He explained to me and David that the CNS is where your primitive functions are controlled, how you walk and breath, etc. This disease is so unpredictable, it could flare up at any time and cause all kinds of problems, if I have the chance to kick it into remission or cure it, I should go for it. I think I needed to hear this definitive assessment of my rare and interesting case and the options that lay before me. I guess I am still scarred from my original oncologist appointment.

Tune in Monday, June 21st for the adventures of Dr. Roto-Rooter (His real name is Ruderman) and Misty's endoscopy plus biopsy. Does the fun ever stop?