Adventures of Rich

This is a post to document my peripheral blood stem cell donation by the apheresis process. Really, there is nothing to it. If you are donating stem cells to someone, your pain and suffering is nothing compared to what your donor experienced. I was fortunate enough to be a good donor candidate for my sister Linda, I was able to get the time off work, and I was able to make the trip to Seattle for the process.

My donation and Linda’s transplant were done in Seattle at the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance. Everyone at the SCCA was great through my sister’s treatment and my short time in the SCCA system as a stem cell donor.

My process started with some blood tests at a hospital back home. I had orders from the SCCA. My local hospital drew the blood, 10 little bottles, and FedEx’d them out to Seattle.

In Seattle they did test and found I was a sibling match which is rarer than you’d think. Out of 5, we had 2 matches. They will tell you of family’s with 10 siblings and no matches.

After I found out I was a match I went to the SCCA for testing, blood work and a physical. This process took 3 days. I wasn’t busy at the hospital full time for 3 days, that’s just how long the testing took.

After that, I was scheduled based on when Linda would be ready for my stem cells, “my boys” as I like to call them.

When I returned to Seattle for the donation process it started with more blood work and then twice daily injections to make my bone marrow over produce white blood cells. The injections and blood draws were not a big deal. They used very fine needles for all the sticks. They injected me in my belly or the back of my arm. It burned a little going in but nothing that hurt a lot.

After injections I would typically go for a walk around the SCCA. After the second injection every day I would stop by The Victory Lounge for a Victory Pint. My boys need fortification.

After 2 days of injections I did get a little achy. A couple of Tylenol took the edge off. After 3 days the edge was still there and they prescribed Vicodin. That took the edge off better.

After 5 days of the injections you go into the clinic for the stem cell donation. They stick a needle in each arm, your blood comes out, runs through a machine that spins your blood to separate your stem cells, then puts what’s left of your blood back in the other arm. The process is similar to what a person on kidney dialysis goes through 3 or 4 times a week.

For my part, this was a two day process lasting 4 hours the first day and 3 hours the second day. While I was hooked up to the machine I watched movies, The Incredibles the first day and Kung Fu Panda the second day. I was able snack on crackers and drink a little bit during the donation process. You can’t get up and go to the bathroom during the process so they don’t want you to drink too much.

After that, you’re done. I haven’t had any lasting effects. The bone pain stopped shortly after the injections stopped. I was able to go out for a walk after the donation, again I stopped at The Victory Lounge for a Victory Pint.

That’s it! If you ever have the opportunity to be a stem cell donor my advice is to take it. There are risks associated with the process. You have to sign consent forms at the hospital and they will explain the risks. If most of the other processes go as mine did, there’s nothing to it and you’ll make a huge difference for your recipient.

I had the good luck to attend a Master’s Practice Round on Wednesday with my cousin Ed. What a great day! More pictures can be seen here.

With my brothers and sisters in Seattle. Everything is going our way!