Bone marrow donar/recipient question

[Dabuggy]

Hello,

A relative has multiple myeloma and must have a bone marrow transplant. His donar wants to know why she has to take 2-3 weeks off? Could this have to do with the staff minitoring her for S+S of infections or a cold?

Next they want to take over 1 liter of marrow. She wants to know what replaces this after they take it out?

Thank you for any input.

Dabuggy

[TazziRN, RN]

The donor needs time off to recover.

Marrow regenerates.

These are really questions she needs to ask the transplant doctor. She should not have ANY questions unanswered before undergoing this procedure. If she still doesn't understand anything she should not sign the consent.

[Dabuggy]

Thank you for the reply. It is hard for the donar to get in touch with the doctor. Pt is in TX and donar is in MI. As of this time they are coresponding through the PT.

Thnak you again

Dabuggy

[wooh, BSN, RN]

Maybe they need to set up a phone call betweent the donor and the MD? We all know things get mixed up second-hand. Especially with the recipient being the go-between, they've got so many questions of their own to deal with, info relating to the donor is going to get mixed up in that. I'd see about getting some direct communication between donor and MD asap.

[MIA-RN1, RN]

my husband's brother is our donor and he took a week or two of meds to stimulate the growth of the cells and he was very achy during that time--so that may be why they want time off from work. The collection was simple, he was attached to a machine that took the blood from one arm, spun it out to get what they wanted, and it went back in the other arm. He felt fine throughout and after. This was a stem cell collection, so it may be different than what you mean. But when my husband goes for a transplant, we will use the cells obtained.

[TazziRN, RN]

Bone marrow transplants is different from stem cell.

The doc needs to make himself available to the pt to answer all questions. If the harvest is to be done in MI then she needs to talk with the harvesting doc, but she should have NO questions going into this.

[Dabuggy]

Thank you for your replies. Harvesting the bone marrow in MI was not an option for the donar. She wishes it were so she did not have to leave her family.

They plan on taking the marrow from a hip. This is being done at a gov installation and subjective material as to not being able to talk with the MD.

However, a plan has been made to have a consultation the day before the surgery. I told both of them to write down questions for the MD.

Dabuggy

When/if I find out why they need over 1 liter and what will replace it, I will post this so other students will know also.