Friday, January 4, 2008

Marrow Donation Part 2


What do a sixty-something man with multiple myeloma and middle-aged fat guy have in common? Soon they will have the same blood!

Today I began the series of shots for my marrow donation. Technically, it's a peripheral blood stem cell transplant. If the shots work, my bones will work overtime to produce stem cells to such an extent that they will spill into my bloodstream. Next week they will be extracted and flown to an undisclosed city where the patient lives. He will be receiving a large dose of chemotherapy that will kill his own blood marrow and the cancer. Then he receives my stem cells and his body starts producing new blood with them. No problemo.

The drug name is called Neupogen, but insiders call it by the slang name "G". Today I received 4 mL of G, two in each arm. They say I will likely experience some bone pain, but so far I don't feel anything. My dosage is large, they say, on account of me being large.

You, too, can sign up to be on the National Marrow Donors database and perhaps save someone's life.

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