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This afternoon I went to the Red Cross to get my blood test for the bone marrow donation program. Toni, the woman who did my blood test, was very nice, answered a lot of questions and gave me a handout to take home with lots of information.

It turns out that I'm at a fairly preliminary stage of this whole process. Toni told me that there are 6 antigens they need to match, called A, B, and DR (two of each). Nowadays, when someone joins the donor program registry, they test all six. But when I did it ten years ago, they only tested four, the A and B antigens. The blood they took from me today is to see if my DR antigens are also a match.

She said I'll be notified by mail between 1 and 3 months from now. If I am a complete match for the patient, I then have to go through another round where they take between 4 and 16 tubes of blood and test me for "highly specialized tissue matching" (whatever that means, it's what the handout says) and infectious diseases. I guess they don't want to give someone a bone marrow transplant and accidently give them hepatitis or HIV at the same time.

Toni said that sometimes if the transplant is urgent, they do a different kind of testing called "HR." But she didn't explain what that meant since it wasn't necessary. So I guess the patient in my case isn't in dire need, which makes me feel better. Because it sounds like chances aren't that good for me being able to help. I'm only a 2/3 match, and even if the blood test today comes up positive there's still the "tissue matching." If I did pass all those tests, then they would give me a physical exam to make sure the donation wouldn't be dangerous to me. Then I'd have to sign a statement that I was willing to donate, and only then would the patient be notified. Which makes sense; I'm sure they don't want to get people's hopes up until things look definite. (They said I could still change my mind even after signing the form. But jeez, who would go all that way and then back out? I think by that point, you'd feel connected to the transplant recipient and wouldn't want to let them down.)

Toni was surprised when I told her I had been sent all the way to Greensboro. She confirmed what I had suspected, that the woman who called me is very new to the job and not familiar with the region. Toni told me that although her official schedule puts her in Durham at a time I can't do, she often has to switch days and/or times. She gave me her business card so that at the next stage, if I get there, I can call her directly and schedule something more convenient.

Last, I asked her if the donation procedure is painful. She admitted that she's never had it done to her, so she can't tell me with 100% certainty. But she did say that the donors she's talked to say it isn't bad. Mostly they talk about feeling sore and tired for a couple of days afterwards. She said they usually schedule the procedure for a Friday, so the donor can rest over the weekend and be ready for work again by Monday.

Which was a big relief, because yesterday I talked to my friend Marc (an MD) and he said it was extremely painful. I believe his exact words were "They have to drill a hole in your bone! It's excruciating!" He also said that he had advised his wife not to join the donor registry because of the pain. When he realized that I was asking because I had been contacted about donating, he conceded that he would do it too if he were in my place (although, ever the optimist, he corrected my statement that I might save someone's life because in his opinion, the best a marrow transplant can do is prolong life).

The handout says that donor either gets a general anesthetic or an epidural, which seems like it ought to take care of the pain pretty well. And Toni told me that the procedure for the transplant recipient is a lot worse, it really is very painful, and that may be why donation has such a bad reputation. I would do it even if it were as painful as Marc suggested. I just want to be forewarned.