First Contact!

On Friday I spoke to the coordinator. Since she had already received the questionnaire and was able to go over it she gave me the green light to move on to the next step! On Friday I have to go and have some blood taken to confirm that the patient and I are a good match!

I was able to find out a little bit about the patient. He is a 48 year old man who has non-Hodgkin lymphoma aka NHL. Lymphoma is a blood cancer, and there are many different types of lymphoma's. When I first heard what he had, the "non" part made me think it wasn't as bad as having Hodgkin lymphoma but that's not the case. The difference between the two are cell type. Hodgkin lymphoma usually responds very well to chemo and radiation where non-Hodgkin does not. People who have non-Hodgkin usually have to have their system wiped out and have a bone marrow transplant to have any hope of survival.

There are two different ways they may take my bone marrow (If I end up being a good match.) The first way is through donating peripheral blood stem cells (PBSC) for a week leading up to my donation I will be given filgrastim injections which will increase the number of stem cells flowing through my body. The side effects from the medication may be limited but I may experience mild headaches, muscle aches, and other cold like symptoms.  I will then have to go to the hospital where they will take my blood from one arm, filter out all of the stem cells and return the blood into the other arm. The side effects of this procedure are fatigue, headaches and muscle/bone soreness but my stem cell levels will be returned to normal within a couple weeks. The other procedure is marrow donation where I will be given anesthesia and the doctor will withdrawal liquid marrow from the back of my pelvic bone. The side effects from this procedure may be back pain but my bone marrow level will return to normal within 6 weeks. Regardless of what procedure I have I won't be able to lift Abby, or anything else for a week.

If I wanted to I could request donation in whichever way I choose. However, I don't think that is a decision that I am educated enough to make. I want the patient to have the best possible chance at survival so I will donate in the way that his doctor requests.

There are not any hospitals in Nevada that perform donations so I will have to go to another state to donate. DKMS pays all of the traveling expenses for me and a companion. My coordinator said the closest hospitals to Nevada are in Oregon, Denver, and Berkley. I asked if I would be able to go to New York or New Jersey since I have family there and she said absolutely! We'll figure out where I'll be having it done after the blood tests come back, assuming that we are still a match.