Peripheral Blood Stem Cell Donation

[schwartzy]

I am going to be donating blood stem cells (like marrow) to an individual in need. I am not doing this for recognition or for Med School admission, but I was wondering if I should put this on my application, and if so, where?
This is a very rare thing, not like donating blood. It takes several days and is used to save a specific person's life.
Let me know what you think.

Thanks!

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[LizzyM]

Save it for interviews or for supplementals if it fits with some specific prompt. You could work it into an essay on coping skills if you had a way you coped with the discomforts associated with PBSC, you could work it into a conversation about why you are attracted to medicine or what you've learned about being a patient from being someone who underwent procedures and what that feels like (not just the pinch of the needle but the small indignities, the loss of liberty, etc) and how what you've learned will make you a better informed and more compassionate physician.

 

[samsunimomo]

I am going to be donating blood stem cells (like marrow) to an individual in need. I am not doing this for recognition or for Med School admission, but I was wondering if I should put this on my application, and if so, where?
This is a very rare thing, not like donating blood. It takes several days and is used to save a specific person's life.
Let me know what you think.

Thanks!

If you are donating marrow, you will likely experience some substantial pain and discomfort, so maybe expand on that?

 

[incredibad]

^ Donating PBSC is much less painful than donating actual bone marrow, which isn't too painful in itself these days. But I agree with LizzyM, and if you end up using it in an essay or interview, you could mention how saving a life this way made you so much more motivated to save lives as a physician, etc etc etc.

Congrats on being called to donate, though! I'm so jealous, it's an amazing thing you're doing.

*** If anyone else is interested in signing up for a bone marrow donor registry, all you do is get sent a free kit, swab your cheeks, send it back, and eventually (hopefully) get called to donate and save a life someday. You can go to marrow.org and click Join The Registry.

 

[mehc012]

^ Donating PBSC is much less painful than donating actual bone marrow, which isn't too painful in itself these days. But I agree with LizzyM, and if you end up using it in an essay or interview, you could mention how saving a life this way made you so much more motivated to save lives as a physician, etc etc etc.

Congrats on being called to donate, though! I'm so jealous, it's an amazing thing you're doing.

*** If anyone else is interested in signing up for a bone marrow donor registry, all you do is get sent a free kit, swab your cheeks, send it back, and eventually (hopefully) get called to donate and save a life someday. You can go to marrow.org and click Join The Registry.

Really? Cuz reading up on both of them (when I signed up and dragged my family into it) we all agreed that, if we had any say in the matter, we would FAR rather go the traditional route. PBSC sounded way worse, both in terms of pain and possible effects. They'd have to show me the studies if they wanted me to take those drugs...

 

[incredibad]

Really? Cuz reading up on both of them (when I signed up and dragged my family into it) we all agreed that, if we had any say in the matter, we would FAR rather go the traditional route. PBSC sounded way worse, both in terms of pain and possible effects. They'd have to show me the studies if they wanted me to take those drugs...

For donating PBSC, you have to take filgrastim for a few days, which releases a lot of the bone marrow stem cells into your bloodstream. The effects of filgrastim aren't too bad at all; some people feel fatigue, nausea, a little achy, but I've never seen anything too bad. After donating PBSC, some people feel a little pain at the injection site, fatigue, and sometimes bone/limb pain. Donating bone marrow surgically is done with anesthesia, so you feel no pain during donation, but you could feel some mild bone/hip pain afterwards. There's been several studies, which I could try to dig up, that show there really aren't any long term effects of donating either marrow or PBSC.

I've been interning with a bone marrow registry this past summer and one of my jobs is monitoring donor recovery, and the most pain/effects I've ever seen a donor deal with was for traditional bone marrow donation, and they labeled their pain as "moderate." All of the effects go away within a week or two, and if one experiences true discomfort, there's a team of nurses specifically for bone marrow donors who can help ease any pain.

But, to each their own. If you specifically say you will only donate the traditional way, then the patient's doctor may accommodate, but sometimes PBSC is the best way to go because you can get more stem cells that way. Either way, by signing up for the registry, you're doing a great thing and I'd be happy to answer any more questions through PM so we don't derail this thread too much 🙂

 

[mehc012]

For donating PBSC, you have to take filgrastim for a few days, which releases a lot of the bone marrow stem cells into your bloodstream. The effects of filgrastim aren't too bad at all; some people feel fatigue, nausea, a little achy, but I've never seen anything too bad. After donating PBSC, some people feel a little pain at the injection site, fatigue, and sometimes bone/limb pain. Donating bone marrow surgically is done with anesthesia, so you feel no pain during donation, but you could feel some mild bone/hip pain afterwards. There's been several studies, which I could try to dig up, that show there really aren't any long term effects of donating either marrow or PBSC.

I've been interning with a bone marrow registry this past summer and one of my jobs is monitoring donor recovery, and the most pain/effects I've ever seen a donor deal with was for traditional bone marrow donation, and they labeled their pain as "moderate." All of the effects go away within a week or two, and if one experiences true discomfort, there's a team of nurses specifically for bone marrow donors who can help ease any pain.

But, to each their own. If you specifically say you will only donate the traditional way, then the patient's doctor may accommodate, but sometimes PBSC is the best way to go because you can get more stem cells that way. Either way, by signing up for the registry, you're doing a great thing and I'd be happy to answer any more questions through PM so we don't derail this thread too much 🙂

Nah, I'll do both, and I've read all of that info before, but I'll take "one spot hurts" over "my whole body aches" or any description including the phrase "bone ache" any day, every day, forever and ever and ever. I don't mind discrete injuries; I didn't even take any pain meds after knee surgery...but I start crying like a little baby over delocalized pain like cramps or GI distress!