Be the Match

Alliums or are they alli

Lots of little yellow flowers

downy woodpecker

fancy zinnias

I looked up the requirements to become a bone marrow donor (my friend needs some). First of all I am too old. Apparently the circulating stem cells that they need decrease with age and the chances that an older person has some defective blood disease, yet undiagnosed, goes up. Second of all, the fact that I had cancer, besides stage 0, automatically excludes me from the pool. One may be NED (no evidence of disease) but there still may be some rogue cells circulating about. This brings up a sore point: people who happily proclaim I AM CANCER FREE!!!especially after they were just treated for cancer. I don't want to burst their bubble or be Ms. Pedantic but no one can truly say that. They are most likely NED. So they prefer ages 18-44. They would probably really prefer those under 18 but consent becomes an issue though somehow kids seem to be donating cells to their siblings all the time such as that girl specifically conceived to provide cells for her cancer ridden sister. My friend has a brother who I assume is in his 50s. If he's a match (small chance) they will probably take his cells. I see that they stimulate the donor's bone marrow with my old friend Neulasta (at 10K a pop). This can be painful. The donor sits around for 4 hours or so having their blood go through a machine that separates the cells they need. They do not need to suck out the marrow directly anymore (painful). Surprisingly, having an autoimmune disease does not exclude one from being a donor. I have (had) Graves' Disease. I may still have circulating antibodies that over stimulate the thyroid. I have no thyroid to stimulate any more.

 

A cool day. Today I ran further on the road that my sister-in-law thinks came out of Deliverance due to its darkness and isolation. Well it is even more isolated further south.

 

 

Last night, more Orange is the New Black episodes with my friends, Fun.