3 ms·

The other being marrow transplant? What is up with that? - I don't know the problems around it.

by myrryr 7y ago

ryanmarsh 7y ago
Marrow transplant is absolutely barbaric. Truly terrible. My daughter did it and I don’t feel like describing her discomfort but I’m sure there are some detailed stories that can be found elsewhere on the internet.
- bane 7y ago
  Was she a donor or a receiver? I've only ever heard from donors about how uncomfortable the donation process is.
FireBeyond 7y ago
Even donation isn't particularly pleasant. From the documentation on my donor registry. "This is an inpatient procedure that will have a recovery period which will involve pain and discomfort." "Once the process has been started, can I change my mind? While legally you have the ability to withdraw consent at any point, as the recipient's immune system is extremely compromised and their own marrow is eradicated, you can be considered to have a moral obligation, as at that point, without your donation, the recipient will almost certainly die".
zaroth 7y ago
There are important distinctions between autologous (getting your Jen marrow back after ablation) and allogeneic (someone else’s cells) transplants. The harvesting technique is now done using drugs like neupogen to mobilize the marrow stem cells into the blood stream where they can be collected in a process like dialysis. This is instead of having to actually extract marrow from the donor, which truly was barbaric, but I’m not sure if that’s done anymore. The transplant process requires ablation (destroying the recipients existing cells) which I think can be done with chemo or radiation. It’s ~ a month in isolation to recover and the side effects of the ablation are also no fun but I’m not sure about “most dreaded”? There are probably some variations of the procedure which are much more difficult than others.
rscho 7y ago
Graft-versus-host disease. I just want to mention most transplants aren't like below. But imagine living your life in a small isolation room for weeks at a time. With infection over infection, bleeding out from every hole, and with good-intentioned people sticking needles into you all day long. Then you die alone in the ICU. We used to joke that it'd be softer to die from the primary cause than from the treatment.

The other being marrow transplant? What is up with that? - I don't know the problems around it.

by myrryr 7y ago

The other being marrow transplant? What is up with that? - I don't know the problems around it.

Marrow transplant is absolutely barbaric. Truly terrible. My daughter did it and I don’t feel like describing her discomfort but I’m sure there are some detailed stories that can be found elsewhere on the internet.

bane 7y ago
Was she a donor or a receiver? I've only ever heard from donors about how uncomfortable the donation process is.

FireBeyond 7y ago

Even donation isn't particularly pleasant. From the documentation on my donor registry. "This is an inpatient procedure that will have a recovery period which will involve pain and discomfort." "Once the process has been started, can I change my mind? While legally you have the ability to withdraw consent at any point, as the recipient's immune system is extremely compromised and their own marrow is eradicated, you can be considered to have a moral obligation, as at that point, without your donation, the recipient will almost certainly die".

zaroth 7y ago

There are important distinctions between autologous (getting your Jen marrow back after ablation) and allogeneic (someone else’s cells) transplants. The harvesting technique is now done using drugs like neupogen to mobilize the marrow stem cells into the blood stream where they can be collected in a process like dialysis. This is instead of having to actually extract marrow from the donor, which truly was barbaric, but I’m not sure if that’s done anymore. The transplant process requires ablation (destroying the recipients existing cells) which I think can be done with chemo or radiation. It’s ~ a month in isolation to recover and the side effects of the ablation are also no fun but I’m not sure about “most dreaded”? There are probably some variations of the procedure which are much more difficult than others.

rscho 7y ago

Graft-versus-host disease. I just want to mention most transplants aren't like below. But imagine living your life in a small isolation room for weeks at a time. With infection over infection, bleeding out from every hole, and with good-intentioned people sticking needles into you all day long. Then you die alone in the ICU. We used to joke that it'd be softer to die from the primary cause than from the treatment.