8-23-11

Stem Cell Donation – Day 2

Today was rough for my brother, “Paul,” but not for me.  The blood taken yesterday had to be tested to be certain I have no diseases that would prevent my acting as the stem cell donor.  I learn those results tomorrow.  Paul was back at the hospital today for a liver biopsy.  Under sedation, a doctor inserted a needle into his liver to obtain a sample to be analyzed. 

After taking Paul to the MD Anderson Center a little before 7:00 am, I decided to go jogging.  This was the 34th straight day that Houston’s temperature has exceeded 100 degrees and I wanted to run a few miles while it was only in the high 80s.  I have a belief that I should “train” in order to have my stem cells ready for what they need to do in a few days.  After Paul had recovered from the sedation, we drove to the airport to pick up his wife, Deb, who has been out of the state for several days.

My preparation actually began nearly four months ago when Paul was first diagnosed with myelofibrosis.  Though he had been exhibiting symptoms of the disease for many years, it is relatively rare and none of the doctors he has seen over the years recognized what it was.  It was only in May, when he was referred to the MD Anderson Center, that the diagnosis was made.

My method of training is not what I would expect a doctor to suggest.  First, I enlisted various people with whom I associate to pray for Paul and to remotely treat the condition with Reiki, an energetic healing system.  I had a feeling that he was going to need a bone marrow transplant, so I began researching what I would need to do to become a donor.  Quickly I learned the accepted guideline is that a person may serve as a donor up to age 60.  Even though I am slightly older than that, I felt I would be the best possible donor, especially since I have been practicing t’ai chi for more than 30 years and believe that doing so has strengthened my bone marrow.

The original plan was to treat Paul’s condition with  experimental medication, but it was soon evident that a stem cell transplant was the only thing that could cure him.  His health insurer finally approved the procedure – which costs some $300,000 – and age became a secondary consideration.  My other brother, Jim, and I were both tested by taking swabs from inside our cheeks to see if either of us would be an appropriate match (about a 30% chance of that occurring).  It turned out that we both matched (less than a 10% probability).  Since Jim is 4 years younger than me, he seemed the better choice.  However, when some other factors were examined, it turned out that I should be the one to donate.  I then had to give additional blood samples for further testing.

I immediately agreed to donate, a date was set and I stepped up my training.  I haven’t eaten meat for nearly 40 years, and leading up to the donation I quit eating refined sugar and reduced my dairy consumption.  I quit taking multivitamins because they contain so many things that end up in the blood stream and made absolutely certain that I did not take anything like aspirin, ibuprofen or Vitamin E that would act as a blood thinner.  I found reserch  showing that the stimulation of certain acupuncture points may increase the number of peripheral blood stem cells, so a week ago I received an acupuncture treatment from a friend who is a talented acupuncturist.

I think I am ready to donate, which is good because the time is getting close.