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Had the info session yesterday evening with my case worker, talked about an hour or so. The only info I have on the patient is that they are female and she has myelodysplastic syndrome, where the bone marrow doesn't produce enough red/white blood cells and/or platelets.
Also, found out the closest donor center is in Cologne, Germany, so I won't be going back and forth to the States like I originally thought. I'll go once for a health assessment, blood tests, screening, etc., and then back again for the actual donation. While this simplifies the logistics, still the biggest question right now is the timing. They want me to donate the first week of June, but that is the worst week for me in the near future timing-wise. She is asking the center if we can work a mid/late-June donation date, so fingers crossed!
The process itself is rather interesting - I'd be donating through the Peripheral Blood Stem Cell transfusion method. They will inject me daily with filgrastim for five days, which increases the levels of blood stem cells in the circulating blood. After the fifth injection, they'll extract the stem cells through atheresis, similar to when donating plasma, where they draw blood from one arm, extract the cells through a machine, and return everything else back through another arm. The process takes 4-6 hours.
Anyways, just thought I'd share!
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