Free bone marrow test kit - Chance to save life of boy in video...or someone else's life ---

Quote from attca2k : Isnt donating marrow, you'll get stuck with excrutiating pain with a 12" needle from the side to your spine?

When I donated a month ago, it was actually Peripheral Blood Stem Cells and not bone marrow. From what I understand, this is now the most common procedure.

Basically, I had to have an injection for five days prior to the procedure which gave me a constant headache and I pretty much felt like I had the flu. Not pleasant, but not unbearable.

The procedure itself was pretty much the same as if you donate platelets, just way longer. They remove blood from one arm, spin it around and remove what they need then push it back in your other arm. It was an 8 hour procedure spread over two days (so 4 hours at a stretch.) The only horrible part was that after about 3 hours, the arm with the needle withdrawing blood (which you are not allowed to move at all. The other arm you can move around a bit) completely locked up and began to ache pretty horribly.

I was back to normal the day after the procedure. My iron was low and it took a while to get my full stamina back, but no different from donating blood.