and I'm scared
They want me to take blood test to see if I'm a match for someone
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Edit April 16, 2019
Here's a very quick and dirty lowdown:
When people have blood cancer they need a bone marrow transplant. There are two ways to donate. One is the anesthesia go to sleep suck it our your spine option that you've heard is painful. The other, about 3x as common, is getting five days of injections of neupogen, one shot in each arm per day (or your stomach apparently, yikes, but you can pick I think) to increase your bone marrow's production of whatever the cells are so much that it goes into your bloodstream. On the first day the shot burns for whatever reason. Can make you lightheaded on the first day as well. Then on day of collection they filter your blood for 3-6 hours to take it out. You don't get to choose which option. It depends on their needs. For child patients you probably do the go to sleep one, and for everyone else the filtering blood one. If it's like really bad or whatever they could make you do the blood one AND THEN go to sleep, but I don't think that's common.
I did the second option in April 2019. The shots for the five days made my back very uncomfortable (not like a growing pain you would think but a very specific sensation - I always had to hold my back because I thought it was going to fall off or something). I couldn't sleep at all. Then day of collection was not so bad. Right after the donation I felt 75% better, and a week later I'm at like 95%.
Sign up at bethematch.org or giftoflife.org (either will do). You swab your cheeks with like a Q-tip and mail it it and then probably never get called. If you do get called, you get a small blood test to confirm, then go for an in-depth checkup, which involves another blood test and pee test, then you begin the shots. This process took about 11 months for me from initial call/blood test to donation, but there was a five or so month delay (check the threadmarks) because the patient "wasn't ready."
Fun facts:
-Donors/recipients are usually the same racial background for genetic similarity or something. If you're black or asian they would definitely like you to sign up especially.
-The bone marrow transplant makes the recipient lose all of their allergies (like peanut butter or whatever) and gain yours.
-People on Resetera buy you pizza.
-A year after the donation if both parties consent you can learn each other's identities. When you donate you know their age, gender, and illness.
-Recipient could be anywhere in the world, though keep in mind the racial aspect. Your white weeb from Kansas cells probably are not going to a Japanese person in glorious Nippon. An hour after you donate, a courier with a lunch box shows up and gets on a plane with your cells, and patient gets transfusion the next day.
My timeline:
December 2016: Swabbed
May 2018: Got called, took blood test
-a much longer amount of time than I remembered where they said patient couldn't receive donation yet-
January 2019: Called again
March 2019: Final check up
April 2019: Donation
They want me to take blood test to see if I'm a match for someone
-------
Edit April 16, 2019
Here's a very quick and dirty lowdown:
When people have blood cancer they need a bone marrow transplant. There are two ways to donate. One is the anesthesia go to sleep suck it our your spine option that you've heard is painful. The other, about 3x as common, is getting five days of injections of neupogen, one shot in each arm per day (or your stomach apparently, yikes, but you can pick I think) to increase your bone marrow's production of whatever the cells are so much that it goes into your bloodstream. On the first day the shot burns for whatever reason. Can make you lightheaded on the first day as well. Then on day of collection they filter your blood for 3-6 hours to take it out. You don't get to choose which option. It depends on their needs. For child patients you probably do the go to sleep one, and for everyone else the filtering blood one. If it's like really bad or whatever they could make you do the blood one AND THEN go to sleep, but I don't think that's common.
I did the second option in April 2019. The shots for the five days made my back very uncomfortable (not like a growing pain you would think but a very specific sensation - I always had to hold my back because I thought it was going to fall off or something). I couldn't sleep at all. Then day of collection was not so bad. Right after the donation I felt 75% better, and a week later I'm at like 95%.
Sign up at bethematch.org or giftoflife.org (either will do). You swab your cheeks with like a Q-tip and mail it it and then probably never get called. If you do get called, you get a small blood test to confirm, then go for an in-depth checkup, which involves another blood test and pee test, then you begin the shots. This process took about 11 months for me from initial call/blood test to donation, but there was a five or so month delay (check the threadmarks) because the patient "wasn't ready."
Fun facts:
-Donors/recipients are usually the same racial background for genetic similarity or something. If you're black or asian they would definitely like you to sign up especially.
-The bone marrow transplant makes the recipient lose all of their allergies (like peanut butter or whatever) and gain yours.
-People on Resetera buy you pizza.
-A year after the donation if both parties consent you can learn each other's identities. When you donate you know their age, gender, and illness.
-Recipient could be anywhere in the world, though keep in mind the racial aspect. Your white weeb from Kansas cells probably are not going to a Japanese person in glorious Nippon. An hour after you donate, a courier with a lunch box shows up and gets on a plane with your cells, and patient gets transfusion the next day.
My timeline:
December 2016: Swabbed
May 2018: Got called, took blood test
-a much longer amount of time than I remembered where they said patient couldn't receive donation yet-
January 2019: Called again
March 2019: Final check up
April 2019: Donation
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