I am having my first bone marrow biopsy/aspiration this week. I am nervous about this. I am not sure why, I have had many needles in the past. I would like to know other people's experience with this procedure. Thanks.

I am having my first bone marrow biopsy/aspiration this week. I am nervous about this. I am not sure why, I have had many needles in the past. I would like to know other people's experience with this procedure. Thanks.
Hey there akb...about the bone marrow biopsy. Depending on who's doing it, it's a really simple procedure. In this day and age, they normally take the marrow from the posterior superior iliac spine (PSIS)...in other words from your hipbone at the small of your back. Have you ever seen that certain people have these two dimples at the small of their back? That's where they stick the needle. The procedure consists of two things....they take an aspirate of your bone marrow, and they take a core biopsy. There are two things that patients usually find uncomfortable and they are the freezing and the part right when they suck out the aspirate. It's not a pain really, but more of a feeling that "something is being taken out of you".....

Otherwise, the procedure is usually done in 10 mins!!

If I may ask, why are you getting a bone marrow biopsy? Is there a problem with your blood counts?

Hey there akb...about the bone marrow biopsy. Depending on who's doing it, it's a really simple procedure. In this day and age, they normally take the marrow from the posterior superior iliac spine (PSIS)...in other words from your hipbone at the small of your back. Have you ever seen that certain people have these two dimples at the small of their back? That's where they stick the needle. The procedure consists of two things....they take an aspirate of your bone marrow, and they take a core biopsy. There are two things that patients usually find uncomfortable and they are the freezing and the part right when they suck out the aspirate. It's not a pain really, but more of a feeling that "something is being taken out of you".....

Otherwise, the procedure is usually done in 10 mins!!

If I may ask, why are you getting a bone marrow biopsy? Is there a problem with your blood counts?

My blood is ok, I have protein in my urine.

My blood is ok, I have protein in my urine.
Oh....um...then why are they doing a bone marrow biopsy?

My blood is ok, I have protein in my urine.


My Dr. referred me to hem onc. for bence jones protein in urine.

Ohhhh!!! That changes thing a lot!! Normally when someone has proteinuria it's just simple albumin that is being inappropriately leaked out...but when it's Bence Jones protein, it probably means that you have a plasma cell (a subset of your B-cells which are a subset of your white blood cells) that has grown out of control. You might have a disease called multiple myeloma, which means, unfortunately, that there might be something wrong with your blood.....which is the reason they're doing the bone marrow biopsy.