SINKING SHIPS

The Test Results

“One of the most important things you can do on this earth is to let people know they are not alone.” ― Shannon L. Alder

It had been the longest week of their life. It had been a whole week since the girls had taken their tests.  Today was the day they would find out if any of them were a match.

The four of them sat there for about thirty minutes waiting to be called back to meet with the doctor. Each minute they had to sit there they could feel the anxiety building. They were beginning to run out of small talk and were getting antsy. Then the moment came. The nurse entered the room, Mrs. Grace the doctor will see you.  As they made their way to the office, Calista must have realized how nervous Bella was.  She reached over and grabbed Bella’s hand. Bella squeezed her hand back hoping to reassure her that they were in this together.

The doctor sat down and looked over to Aunt Bonnie.  Bonnie how are you doing today? Aunt Bonnie told him she had had better days.  He smiled back at her and said well let us see what we have here.  He flipped open the file. Well luckily your three daughters are in excellent health.  As you know, bone marrow matches require a patient and a donor to have more than just the same blood types. They must also have matching human leukocyte antigens. When looking at the test results, it appears that all three can donate, but Bella is the best match.  The girls smiled with relief.  Aunt Bonnie looked over at Bella, you know you do not have to do this if you do not want to. The doctor turned to Bella. Thinking that Aunt Bonnie's comment was because Bella may be nervous about the procedure, he went on to go over the side effects. There are some side effects of marrow donation but nothing real serious for the donor.  Some side effects are bruising at the incision site, soreness, and stiffness where the marrow was harvested, achiness or pain in the hip or back, or trouble walking for a few days due to pain or stiffness. I would want to admit the two of you today and do the procedure first thing in the morning.   Bonnie has already gone through the necessary conditioning process. We have waited longer than I would have recommended.  Your mother continues to get weaker each day.  Bella looked at them and without hesitation said she was willing to do whatever she could to help her mother.

Abigail spoke up asking what her mother’s chances with the marrow donation were. It is around 60-62%, which in medical world is rather good. It has also been found that around three out of every four patients survive the bone marrow transplantation.  Are there any dangers for Mom asked Calista? A bone marrow transplant has serious risks. Some patients suffer from life-threatening problems because of their transplant. These problems can include serious infections and graft-versus-host disease, in which the transplanted cells attack the patient's body. I am not going to downplay the risks but please remember for some patients, your mom being one of them, a transplant may be the best option for a longer life, as the procedure remains the only known cure for bone marrow diseases. They all looked at each other in agreement.  They were going to do this and get through it.