I just gave myself the first injection. I was really nervous but it wasn't that bad. I injected 2mL of filgrastim, which was a 600 micrograms dose. Luckily you can inject up to 2mL subcutaneously so I only had to do one injection. Those receiving a greater volume of the medication may get an injection in more than one site.
I inserted the needle and started pushing the medication slowly. The slow injection was the key for decreased injection pain. Your body can only absorb so much fluid in a short amount of time so by giving it a little extra time, it makes it a bit less painful.
The area was a little sore and it radiated around the injection sight for a little while but it's fine now and it's 9pm and I'm still doing well. No side effects yet! I'm still going to continue taking Tylenol regularly in hopes that it will help with what's to come.
Until tomorrow!
Showing posts with label femoral artery. Show all posts
Showing posts with label femoral artery. Show all posts
Sunday, November 11, 2012
Thursday, October 25, 2012
Let's get physical!
Friday was the big day! Well, one of the big days.
I went to the hospital to have the physical done. I got there and got to meet the doctor and she talked to me a little bit about the process. She asked me a lot of questions pertaining to my health and she took a thorough health history. After all of the questions, they drew more blood. They took 9 tubes, 2 of those tubes were going to be sent out and stored for that one consent form that I signed allowing them to do so. They told me that the recipients get so much more blood drawn though... something like 12 tubes. Crazy. I think this was a repeat infectious disease test because they wanted to make sure I didn't contract anything since I had the test done before.
The doctor looked at my veins briefly and then had the apheresis nurse, who would be putting the needles in, take a look as well and they both seemed to think that a line in the femoral vein would be best because I have such small veins. This isn't something I'm really crazy about doing but it will probably be better. On the day of the donation, I'll receive my last shot of filgrastim in the morning, then they have to wait an hour before doing the donation after the injection so between the shot and the wait, a vascular surgeon will insert the line. Like I said, I'm really not crazy about the idea, but it is what it is. At least with this, I won't have needles in my arms.
After the blood was drawn, I got an EKG. It took longer to put the leads on than to do the actual EKG itself so the girl that was putting the leads on chatted with me for a while. I'm guessing she knew I was a donor when she looked at my chart so she started talking about it and said how awesome it was. I can't remember how it came up, but she didn't know that I don't actually know the recipient so when she found this out she thought it was the greatest thing. She kept thanking me for what I was doing and the doctor thanked me as well. I wasn't quite sure how to respond because I'm not doing it to get recognition or thank yous, I'm doing it so this woman can have another chance at life... another chance at having a family, a chance to reconcile relationships, a chance at doing something she always wanted to do but never did... like traveling or learning another language. I'm doing it because it's the right thing to do and it's something that I hope someone else would be willing to do for me if I needed it. It was hard to know what to say to that.
Anyway, after the EKG, I went and received a chest x-ray. That didn't take very long either. I was supposed to go and see where I'd be doing the donation but it was already so late in the day by the time I had finished with everything so I didn't get to see it. I figure that I'll be spending a good 6-8 hours there in a few weeks so I'll get a really good look at it then. :p
Once the day was coming to a close, I received a phone call from Lee. He was checking on me to see how the day had gone and how everything else was going. I have to say that they have been so awesome at the NMDP and they have been there every step of the way.
Before I end this tonight, I'm curious how other donors have responded to these thanks and what their reasons for signing up to be a donor were/are. Please share your experiences and responses, I'd really love to hear them!
I went to the hospital to have the physical done. I got there and got to meet the doctor and she talked to me a little bit about the process. She asked me a lot of questions pertaining to my health and she took a thorough health history. After all of the questions, they drew more blood. They took 9 tubes, 2 of those tubes were going to be sent out and stored for that one consent form that I signed allowing them to do so. They told me that the recipients get so much more blood drawn though... something like 12 tubes. Crazy. I think this was a repeat infectious disease test because they wanted to make sure I didn't contract anything since I had the test done before.
The doctor looked at my veins briefly and then had the apheresis nurse, who would be putting the needles in, take a look as well and they both seemed to think that a line in the femoral vein would be best because I have such small veins. This isn't something I'm really crazy about doing but it will probably be better. On the day of the donation, I'll receive my last shot of filgrastim in the morning, then they have to wait an hour before doing the donation after the injection so between the shot and the wait, a vascular surgeon will insert the line. Like I said, I'm really not crazy about the idea, but it is what it is. At least with this, I won't have needles in my arms.
After the blood was drawn, I got an EKG. It took longer to put the leads on than to do the actual EKG itself so the girl that was putting the leads on chatted with me for a while. I'm guessing she knew I was a donor when she looked at my chart so she started talking about it and said how awesome it was. I can't remember how it came up, but she didn't know that I don't actually know the recipient so when she found this out she thought it was the greatest thing. She kept thanking me for what I was doing and the doctor thanked me as well. I wasn't quite sure how to respond because I'm not doing it to get recognition or thank yous, I'm doing it so this woman can have another chance at life... another chance at having a family, a chance to reconcile relationships, a chance at doing something she always wanted to do but never did... like traveling or learning another language. I'm doing it because it's the right thing to do and it's something that I hope someone else would be willing to do for me if I needed it. It was hard to know what to say to that.
Anyway, after the EKG, I went and received a chest x-ray. That didn't take very long either. I was supposed to go and see where I'd be doing the donation but it was already so late in the day by the time I had finished with everything so I didn't get to see it. I figure that I'll be spending a good 6-8 hours there in a few weeks so I'll get a really good look at it then. :p
Once the day was coming to a close, I received a phone call from Lee. He was checking on me to see how the day had gone and how everything else was going. I have to say that they have been so awesome at the NMDP and they have been there every step of the way.
Before I end this tonight, I'm curious how other donors have responded to these thanks and what their reasons for signing up to be a donor were/are. Please share your experiences and responses, I'd really love to hear them!
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