I_wanna_Shed
6th May 2007, 11:09 PM
After what seems like a spate of sudden sadness in this area of the forum, I thought I would post a feel-good story....
My wife has been religiously donating blood for over 10 years now. When she started, she ticked a box labeled "I would like to enlist on the bone marrow donor register". Now this register is used if there is someone who needs a bone marrow transplant (usually cancer patients). The odds of a match outside of immediate family are pretty slim (apparently not even twins will always match up).
She got a call just before our wedding last November, saying that there is a patient requiring a transplant that matches her bone marrow. Straight away she said she would do it - without a second of hesitation. She gave a final blood test which confirmed the match.
She was booked in for mid-January after our wedding for the operation. "Yeah, there will be pain, but it will only be for 2 or 3 days after the operation. Should be in and out within several hours" she was told.
More tests followed (and numerous stuff-arounds by our great hospital system).
So we go into the hospital. She goes in to the op theatre. The operation goes fairly well, the only hiccup was her blood pressure dropped dangerously low during the op so she was kept in for observation that night.
If you don't want to hear about how the op is done, skip this next paragraph. Some though may find it interesting.
They draw the bone marrow from your hips. They get a long, very sharp needle and poke this under your skin, on your back above your hips. They then insert the needle through the bone (told you it was sharp!) and draw out 5ml of marrow. They then draw the needle out of the bone, and while it is still under your skin, move it around to another section of bone, then take another 5ml. They take 5ml from one spot or else they start drawing blood along with marrow. So... 5ml at a time, that's 100 injections in each hip! A total of 2 x 100 withdrawals brings them to the required 1L.
When I saw her that night, she was as white as a ghost, and the pain.... oh the pain!!!! She hurt laying down, she hurt sitting up, don't even mention walking! She also needed a blood transfusion (in addition to the blood she gave earlier in the week). My wife took this all in her stride.... "all to possibly help saving a stranger's life" she said.
The next day she was able to go home. The pain continued at unbearable levels for nearly a week. Since she was told she should be right to be back at work on Monday (the op was on a Friday), she called the surgeon. His response was simply "Oh no, you'll be in pain for a while. Maybe a week. Maybe more. Goodbye".
This pain was bad. I needed to help her walk up our 10m hallway, and that would take almost a minute. Throughout the week this shortened to about 20 seconds.
She was back at work 1 week after the op, but having half days because her strength was low and she was still in pain. The pain was not totally gone until a month after the op.
Now, seeing the pain she went through, I am very ashamed to say that no, I could not do this for a stranger. That's what makes my wife so special. Nobody made her do this, she doesn't have a clue who the recipient is, she took a total of 2 weeks unpaid leave from her job to allow for the tests, the op, and further recovery. She was treated very, very badly by the hospital (that's another story). Not once did she complain or regret doing it.
Just last week she received a call from the Bone Marrow Registry. The recipient's body had accepted and was now grafting the marrow! This anonymous recipient was winning their long and hard battle against cancer, and was on the way to recovery! Why? Because of someone so kind and giving. Because of my wife. :2tsup:
My wife says that she would go through this again if her odds came up once more. I just thought I would post this here for those that are going through themselves or a loved one's battle with an ugly disease such as cancer. I hope this brings hope that yes, there are people so kind and selfless who will put their own, busy lives on hold for a stranger.
Keep hanging in there.
Cheers,
Nathan.
My wife has been religiously donating blood for over 10 years now. When she started, she ticked a box labeled "I would like to enlist on the bone marrow donor register". Now this register is used if there is someone who needs a bone marrow transplant (usually cancer patients). The odds of a match outside of immediate family are pretty slim (apparently not even twins will always match up).
She got a call just before our wedding last November, saying that there is a patient requiring a transplant that matches her bone marrow. Straight away she said she would do it - without a second of hesitation. She gave a final blood test which confirmed the match.
She was booked in for mid-January after our wedding for the operation. "Yeah, there will be pain, but it will only be for 2 or 3 days after the operation. Should be in and out within several hours" she was told.
More tests followed (and numerous stuff-arounds by our great hospital system).
So we go into the hospital. She goes in to the op theatre. The operation goes fairly well, the only hiccup was her blood pressure dropped dangerously low during the op so she was kept in for observation that night.
If you don't want to hear about how the op is done, skip this next paragraph. Some though may find it interesting.
They draw the bone marrow from your hips. They get a long, very sharp needle and poke this under your skin, on your back above your hips. They then insert the needle through the bone (told you it was sharp!) and draw out 5ml of marrow. They then draw the needle out of the bone, and while it is still under your skin, move it around to another section of bone, then take another 5ml. They take 5ml from one spot or else they start drawing blood along with marrow. So... 5ml at a time, that's 100 injections in each hip! A total of 2 x 100 withdrawals brings them to the required 1L.
When I saw her that night, she was as white as a ghost, and the pain.... oh the pain!!!! She hurt laying down, she hurt sitting up, don't even mention walking! She also needed a blood transfusion (in addition to the blood she gave earlier in the week). My wife took this all in her stride.... "all to possibly help saving a stranger's life" she said.
The next day she was able to go home. The pain continued at unbearable levels for nearly a week. Since she was told she should be right to be back at work on Monday (the op was on a Friday), she called the surgeon. His response was simply "Oh no, you'll be in pain for a while. Maybe a week. Maybe more. Goodbye".
This pain was bad. I needed to help her walk up our 10m hallway, and that would take almost a minute. Throughout the week this shortened to about 20 seconds.
She was back at work 1 week after the op, but having half days because her strength was low and she was still in pain. The pain was not totally gone until a month after the op.
Now, seeing the pain she went through, I am very ashamed to say that no, I could not do this for a stranger. That's what makes my wife so special. Nobody made her do this, she doesn't have a clue who the recipient is, she took a total of 2 weeks unpaid leave from her job to allow for the tests, the op, and further recovery. She was treated very, very badly by the hospital (that's another story). Not once did she complain or regret doing it.
Just last week she received a call from the Bone Marrow Registry. The recipient's body had accepted and was now grafting the marrow! This anonymous recipient was winning their long and hard battle against cancer, and was on the way to recovery! Why? Because of someone so kind and giving. Because of my wife. :2tsup:
My wife says that she would go through this again if her odds came up once more. I just thought I would post this here for those that are going through themselves or a loved one's battle with an ugly disease such as cancer. I hope this brings hope that yes, there are people so kind and selfless who will put their own, busy lives on hold for a stranger.
Keep hanging in there.
Cheers,
Nathan.