The biopsy.

This time my biopsy went MUCH better than the last one.

The staff in the pre-op area was terrific (most the same as last year). However, darling I.V. Student needs a little more practice to build her confidence. Poor thing! It took her like 5 minutes to select a vein in my hand to work with, she was so careful and delicate, she had the IV in... and pushed again! POOF! The vein went flat! She was a mess when they sent her to the next victim. She got a really good vein on the next victim... it was like splattering all over the place.

I got wheeled over to radiology and most of that staff were folks that I saw last year.

The doctor performing the procedure was very open to questions and very sympathetic to my anxiety over my last experience. He talked me through how it would go this time, and it sounded like it would be at least tolerable.

My RN juiced me up with the "good stuff" and we began. A local was poked into my belly, right below the tip of the breast bone. Not between the ribs this time. And it felt like a bee sting. Then we got started. A little pressure as the guide needle was inserted, and that was it! WOW!!! After two pushes and two pictures to check placement, we went for the third push, that one caught my attention. The doc stopped pushing, got me another hit of pain killer and we went again.

It took three attempts to get a good sample for the pathologist, so between each sample, the RN and I chatted it up. She was great!

Finally, we got a sample, but post-op was filled up. So I got to wait in the CT room and everyone came in from time to time to chat a bit.

Then I got wheeled to post-op and got some water and some graham crackers. Man! I didn't think graham crackers to taste so freakin good.

So, the nice thing about this visit is that ...even though I ache a bit, my morning yesterday was not spent with me screaming, "Oh My God!", "Holy Smoke!" or making comments about my staff's questionable ancestry... or a doctor telling me, "I'm sorry Mr. Carman, I know it hurts." We went in, we knocked it out, and I came home.

That's the way it should be done!