So the dates appear to be set. I think it's safe to say that I'll be going to Georgetown University Hospital in Washington D.C. for my physical and then again for the donation. Since Georgetown University Hospital does more bone marrow harvests than any other facility in the country, this process will still be somewhat anonymous.
I will be flying out in about a week and a half for my physical. I will stay overnight then come back home. I will be alone for this part of the process, so I'm not sure what all I will do in Washington D.C. for just a day. I'll probably walk around and photograph as much as I can while I am still at 100% health, because when I go back for my donation, I will have been taking the filgrastim injections and those can make you tired and achy so I may not be up for a lot of walking then. I may stop by Capitol Hill and see if Bill is still hanging out on the steps.
I have been thinking a lot about the recipient. What he is going through right now to prepare for this. I've been reading as much as I can about the whole process, and when patients go through chemo/radiation treatment designed to cause remission, they say that the initial treatments are tough as they are a high dose. When it gets to the point that the patient needs a bone marrow transplant, they must completely kill all of the existing cells with chemo/radiation, and the doses required for this are even higher than they have ever had at any time in their treatment. This must be incredibly difficult to go through, but I can only imagine knowing that there is a donor waiting to help them keeps them going through it. I asked today if the patient was in the United States or not, and they said they can't reveal that info yet, but will be able to tell me when I donate. I'm also curious what the background is of the patient, since we are a genetic match.
I also think a lot about their family and what they have endured through this. You have to wait one year before you can request to find out who the patient is, and the patient will have to agree to identify themselves. I will be able to find out basic things after certain periods of time, like how the procedure went, if they are getting better, etc, but I will be counting down the days hoping that we can meet some day. Perhaps they would enjoy reading my blog and see how excited I am to help.
During all my reading about the filgrastim injections, it looks like they are going to sting a little when I get them. I hope that I do not have any reactions to the shots. I can stand a little discomfort and take Tylenol to help with any small aches. These are the shots that I will get for 5 days leading up to and including the donation day that increase and move more blood-forming cells from your bone marrow to your bloodstream. Whatever happens, sting or not, it's only a handful of shots and some aches and pains, it's the least I can do!
I read that according to the National Marrow Donor Program website, www.marrow.org, the odds of a non-family-member getting to this stage are about 1 in 20,000, and for those matches, 1 in 12 are chosen to donate. So I was thinking, between this, and getting struck by lightning in my Corvette back in 2001, I can't figure out why I have not won the lottery yet. Maybe I should still buy a ticket once in a while. Who knows what could happen...
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