Eight or ten years ago I worked with a lady whose daughter had cancer and needed a blood marrow donation. In effort to find a suitable match for her daughter, she organized a company-wide blood drive and match testing program with the National Marrow Donor Program. I was not a match for her daughter and after that company closed down we went our separate ways.
Then, last year, I got a call telling me that my records were in their database and had been found to match a man with a type of lymphoma that could be treated in this way. Was I interested? Sure. But later my patient developed complications and the transplant didn't occur.
But last week they called again and we are back on track! So today I had a physical where a doctor confirmed that I was indeed a middle-aged fat guy with blood marrow. They did an EKG which was painless until the tape ripped some chest hairs out! The doc was sure surprised when my chest x-ray showed a rare Rogaine-producing internal organ, but it finally accounted for my general state of hairiness which had puzzled the medical community for so long.
After the new year, the plan is for me to get a series of shots that makes my marrow go into overdrive and produce an abundance of stem cells. These are then sifted by pouring all my blood through a very small kitchen strainer and then the patient gets them by mixing them with left-over holiday eggnog and swigging it down with a flourish of machismo. Something like that. I'm a bit fuzzy on the details.
Then, last year, I got a call telling me that my records were in their database and had been found to match a man with a type of lymphoma that could be treated in this way. Was I interested? Sure. But later my patient developed complications and the transplant didn't occur.
But last week they called again and we are back on track! So today I had a physical where a doctor confirmed that I was indeed a middle-aged fat guy with blood marrow. They did an EKG which was painless until the tape ripped some chest hairs out! The doc was sure surprised when my chest x-ray showed a rare Rogaine-producing internal organ, but it finally accounted for my general state of hairiness which had puzzled the medical community for so long.
After the new year, the plan is for me to get a series of shots that makes my marrow go into overdrive and produce an abundance of stem cells. These are then sifted by pouring all my blood through a very small kitchen strainer and then the patient gets them by mixing them with left-over holiday eggnog and swigging it down with a flourish of machismo. Something like that. I'm a bit fuzzy on the details.
2 comments:
Wow! Good for you! What an incredible opportunity to show God's love in a very practical way.
I'll always think of this when I drink eggnog. Mmm. Thanks.
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