Recent Things
On Thursday I donated bone marrow and I have been slowly regaining my energy since. I put myself onto the registry when I was in undergrad and I got called up this September saying that I am a match for a 56 year old gentleman with early stages of Leukemia. That is all the information that I am allowed to know, but if all goes well in a years time people are allowed to contact each other. It took many steps (interviews, paperwork, blood tests and a physical) before I could actually donate. There are two ways that bone marrow can be collected and the patient's doctor picks which way is best for the patient's situation. One is a surgical procedure where bone marrow samples are taken out of the pelvic bone and another is a process by which you take a drug increasing the body's stem cell production and all the extra stem cells are filtered out of the blood by a machine. This second process, called PBSC - Peripheral blood stem cell donation is what I did. More specific information can be found on the National Marrow Donor Program website
I started Sunday and I drove to duke every morning to get a shot at 8 am. Because my body didn't know what to do with all these extra cells that it produced I am experienced the aches and pains of an extremely bad flu to the point that I was put on oxycodone on the fourth day of shots to deal with my exploding head and intense back pain. I went home Tuesday after my first morning class because sitting became painful and I spent the rest of the days taking naps or lounging. Chloe (my cat) has been a very good companion and has curled up with me when she is not pouncing on my feet that are under the comforter. My dad came down Wednesday night because you need to bring someone with you for the process. I spent 6 hours hooked up to the machine with blood coming out my right arm and going back into my left. All the nurses were really nice and since my process was happening in a main room area people coming through would say hello. I felt weird with everyone making a fuss over me and telling me what a great thing I was doing. It's not that I don't think it's important, because I do, but I don't feel like I did anything out of the ordinary. My body did the important thing of being a match without me having any influence. I took naps, ate lunch and watched Miss Potter on DVD all while being filtered. Fortunately you do get unhooked to go to the bathroom. Dad found the process interesting and was looking at all the parts of the machine and watching my blood get spun into different parts.
Yesterday I was amazingly tired, with eating being taxing on what little energy I had. Today has been much better and while I am still tired I have been able to start in on all the homework that I didn't do this past week. All my instructors have been very understanding of the whole process, and no one expects me to have turned in everything on time, but I still have to get it done. And there is a lot.
I started Sunday and I drove to duke every morning to get a shot at 8 am. Because my body didn't know what to do with all these extra cells that it produced I am experienced the aches and pains of an extremely bad flu to the point that I was put on oxycodone on the fourth day of shots to deal with my exploding head and intense back pain. I went home Tuesday after my first morning class because sitting became painful and I spent the rest of the days taking naps or lounging. Chloe (my cat) has been a very good companion and has curled up with me when she is not pouncing on my feet that are under the comforter. My dad came down Wednesday night because you need to bring someone with you for the process. I spent 6 hours hooked up to the machine with blood coming out my right arm and going back into my left. All the nurses were really nice and since my process was happening in a main room area people coming through would say hello. I felt weird with everyone making a fuss over me and telling me what a great thing I was doing. It's not that I don't think it's important, because I do, but I don't feel like I did anything out of the ordinary. My body did the important thing of being a match without me having any influence. I took naps, ate lunch and watched Miss Potter on DVD all while being filtered. Fortunately you do get unhooked to go to the bathroom. Dad found the process interesting and was looking at all the parts of the machine and watching my blood get spun into different parts.
Yesterday I was amazingly tired, with eating being taxing on what little energy I had. Today has been much better and while I am still tired I have been able to start in on all the homework that I didn't do this past week. All my instructors have been very understanding of the whole process, and no one expects me to have turned in everything on time, but I still have to get it done. And there is a lot.