Syzdekistan

Back in October, right about when I witnessed the ending of a life, I got a call from the National Marrow Donor Program saying that I was a possible match to donate marrow for a leukemia patient. The timing was great — it really tempered the emotional experience trying to help that accident victim. The Program sent me a box of empty blood vials and shipping materials and I spent my lunch at the blood center getting my blood drawn for HLA typing. The samples went into two boxes and I took them to FedEx for shipping. That was about two months ago.

On Wednesday, I was home with The Boy who was suffering from an ear infection and fever. The phone rang and it was the transplant center. They asked if I was still interested in being a marrow donor and I eagerly agreed. The tentative donation date is January 10. The transplant center in Phoenix has closed so this procedure will be in Orange, California. Sometime in December they will fly me to California for a thorough physical exam. The patient’s doctor has requested a peripheral blood stem cell (PBSC) transplant. This is a newer method than old method (that sounds a lot worse than it actually is) of removing marrow from the the pelvis of the donor using a needle. In contrast, PBSC transplants require a five day series of injections of filgrastim which stimulates the production of blood stem cells in the bones. The stem cells “leak” from the bones into the blood stream. On donation day, they will put a needle in one arm and then draw the blood into an aphereis machine which separates the blood components. They will keep the stem cells and return the other blood cells into my other arm.

The stem cells will be transported to the recipient’s location and injected into the patient. At that time, the patient will have no functioning bone marrow. The patient’s doctor will have had administered radiation or chemotherapy to kill the bone marrow and the cancer cells in the marrow. My blood stem cells will find their way into the vacant marrow spaces of the patient and begin their work of developing into the blood cells that the patient needs.

On Monday, I am scheduled to have an extensive phone conversation with the transplant center about the procedure and will get some more details on the procedure and timing. My work is OK with me missing a few days of work for the donation. I’ll be using my sick leave for someone else’s illness (Just like with The Boy). The only weird thing about the donation is that the day after I talked to transplant center, I received a letter saying that my donation was no longer needed. Since the letter was dated the day before the the transplant center contacted me, I am pretty sure someone changed their mind about the patient’s treatment recently. Since the last time I was called to donate marrow the procedure was cancelled at the last moment, I am prepared to have this procedure cancelled as well. However, I am very excited and hopeful about being able to help someone in this unique and special way.

Technorati Tags: bone marrow