Am I able to see the picture of my cells after my bone marrow biopsy?

[Jschwab]

Do you think it's important to see the picture of your bone marrow smear after the bone marrow biopsy? I would think it would be helpful if someone showed me mine, and then compared it to a non ET bone marrow view. It shold still be on file right? I have all of my paperwork and did not include an image.

[clubdino]

I would guess it wouldn't help much because you wouldn't quite know what you were looking at. You would just see purple and red blobs. I can read peripheral blood smears because that is what I used to do in veterinary medicine. I sometimes even look at my own blood under the microscope...yeah, I'm a nerd who has a microscope at home and bought the expensive staining kit so I can do a proper blood smear. So I understand your curiosity. But, if I were to see my own bone marrow slide I would be a bit thrown off and I am somebody who can identify all the different cells. That's because looking at a blood smear and a BMB slide are two way different things...

There was a pic included with my BMB report but it was just a blurry mess because it had been faxed. If your report was received through a computer there is a chance that there is a nice clear picture out there. I suppose you could ask your doctor to forward to your email and tell him you just wanna see it for shits and giggles, lol.

[Jschwab in reply to clubdino]

This makes so much sense, I wouldn’t know what I was looking at! But you spare right, I will ask for the heck of it! sh & giggles! 😂

Thank you Clubdino-

[CarolineDavies]

I asked to see that actual bone marrow in it’s container, it was weird seeing a piece of my hip in a pot LOL! 🦴

[hunter5582]

You have a fundamental right to see anything and everything that is in your medical records. You might well need help interpreting what you are seeing, but that is what doctors are for. The better you understand your condition, the better you will be able to make decisions about your own care. Aside from that, I would also be just curious as heck to see what it looks like. It should not be that hard for the doc to show the images to you, print them, email the image, etc. I would certainly want the see any and all items like this.

All the best. Let us know what you learn - we all benefit from more knowledge.

[Mpncoda in reply to hunter5582]

Sage advice!

[Jschwab]

I absolutely will Hunter5582. Great advice....