Anyone ever donated Bone Marrow?

[Doboji]

My Fiancee is donating on Tuesday...

 

[Mikey]

How does donating bone marrow work exactly? Sounds painful.

 

[Powermoloch]

Originally posted by: Mikey
How does donating bone marrow work exactly? Sounds painful.

well...the suck the yellow stuff in the center of your bone (thighs and hips in particular)

 

[Itchrelief]

Sounds like it would hurt, having to drill into a bone and all.

 

[Gibsons]

I've donated, but it was only a small amount (just a test sample, from the hip). Just a little pain during the actual donation, the worst part was the sound of bone going "crunch." they just used a thick heavy needle to poke through where it was thin. Had a bruise there that lasted a few days, no big deal. A female coworker donated after I did, she complained a lot about the bruising part. Not sure how much it really hurt her or if she wanted an excuse to b!tch at me since I told her it wasn't that bad.

 

[cKGunslinger]

Not to sound profiteering, but do you get paid $$ to donate, or is this for someone you guys know?

 

[Doboji]

Actually she's having it taken via apheresis, which is when they run all her blood through this machine that skims off the white blood cells for donation... she's had to take injections of some medication that boosts her white blood cell count over the last few days... it's made her really sick... like she has the flu basically...

 

[Baked]

I think they're gonna cut off her leg and give back what's left of it when they're done w/ the donation process.

 

[Doboji]

Originally posted by: cKGunslinger
Not to sound profiteering, but do you get paid $$ to donate, or is this for someone you guys know?

no money.... and a complete stranger... all we know is she's a 51 year old woman with Leukemia

 

[imported_LoKe]

Painful procedure, AFAIK.

 

[Gibsons]

Originally posted by: Doboji
Actually she's having it taken via apheresis, which is when they run all her blood through this machine that skims off the white blood cells for donation... she's had to take injections of some medication that boosts her white blood cell count over the last few days... it's made her really sick... like she has the flu basically...

I've done apheresis too (yeah, I've done a lot of studies). Not really painful, kind of like a long blood donation - you spend a lot time with a needle in your arm(s). Worst part was the boredom. Should be a snap if she's got good veins.

:thumbsup: for your gf, she might be saving a life.

 

[Mike2002]

If they are taking it from the blood like you make it seem then it really shouldn't hurt too much. It is just like giving blood from what I hear. The drug that she was given boosts her bone marrow to produce enough so that it will flow into the blood so she doesn't have to get it removed from the acutal bone.
If they acutally do have to take it from the bone...yes it is painful, but it lasts only a few minutes. I've had marrow taken from the bone 5 times in the past few months and it hurts for a few minutes during the procedure, but its really not too bad other htan the short pain.

 

[tjaisv]

So how much do they pay for bone marrow?

 

[Doboji]

Donation went fine... no problem... get this her white blood cell count today was 54,000.... compare that to normal of 5-10K

after the donation it was 47K...

-Max

 

[PingSpike]

Not bone marrow, no. But I once donated a dollar to help homeless dogs. And if you're wondering...yes, it was kind of painful.