They did it in my right posterior iliac crest. The bone is super close to the skin there so I imagine that's why they do it. Same for the tibia and sternum, I'd wager. They took a hard bone sample and a marrow sample. It hurt, but it wasn't the Big Production of Flaming Death and Doom(TM) that everyone said it was. And it was over in seconds.
They numbed the site with a local, first, of course. This was actually the most fun part because when the doctor was loading the syringe, something wasn't right (I couldn't tell because it was all happening behind me). I was lying there, with the iPod playing Freezepop's "Here Comes A Special Boy" on repeat, and just going to my happy place and thinking about Philippe and his Walk-Around-Butt and everything, when suddenly there was this loud champagne pop and a cold spray all over my back. I jumped, and the doctor just said, "Oh sh--." We both started cracking up. I guess the syringe was pressurized funny or something, because the needle had 'sploded right off the syringe. I thought it was hilarious, and couldn't stop giggling after that.
Once the local had taken effect, they went in with a biopsy needle and extracted a core of bone. I could feel some pressure and grinding which was gross, and a little pain, but kind of like what you feel when you put pressure on a bruise--nothing more. It was more a grody feeling of, "Someone's monkeying around with stuff inside my body. This shouldn't be possible." Once they'd gotten the hard sample, they inserted a finer needle and sucked out the marrow like through a straw. That was the grossest most unpleasant feeling ever. There was pain, but it wasn't like I expected. I guess bone marrow is kept at a constant pressure, so when you suck it out of one place it creates this vacuum in another place and the marrow has to flow into the old place to maintain constant pressure. So I felt this suction all the way through my ilium and down my femur for about three seconds. Imagine the feeling you get when your ears plug up on a plane, but in your leg bone. That's what it felt like. Painful, but nothing agonizing. In fact, I went to ballet class that same night.
It took a looooooong time to heal; the bone was very sore and tender for several weeks, and I couldn't do an arabesque above 90 degrees on that side for about two months.
It was cool to see a chunk of my own bone in the little test tube though. I opted not to look at the marrow, however.
And now... on topic:
Felix, I'm going to say #3 is the lie.
1. I used to live in a crackhouse.
2. I have never smoked pot.
3. I have dual citizenship: French and American.
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Topic: Two Truths and a Lie (Read 39676 times)