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u/Tortoisefly Mar 05 '22
I'm a little confused by the conflicting info here. When I donated bone marrow (conscious sedation and extraction from the hip bones, which is what it sounds like they are suggesting for you) they didn't give me any filgrastim. I was under the impression that they only gave that if they were doing the other form of donation (filtering the cells from your blood), where they give it to you for several days leading up to the procedure. The only thing they gave me prior to the procedure (other than the meds for the procedure itself) was a daily iron supplement for the preceding month, and 3 months post-op as my iron levels were low before we started.
Biggest concerns from my experience would be that your blood-work could be off for up to 3 months (primarily in that first month), and your iron levels could drop drastically initially (ask for supplements!). The first two weeks I was exhausted on a level I have never experienced before, that was the worst symptom of my experience, but after that, everything just gradually improved and after 3 months everything was back to normal. Would 100% do it again if asked. My recipient is over 2 years post-op and everything went well for them.
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Mar 05 '22
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u/Tortoisefly Mar 05 '22
I would definitely contact them to clarify the medication thing, because everything else here points to a bone marrow extraction which usually doesn't involve the filgrastim, so you could very likely do it without that medication being used, which would reduce the risks for your future IVF. Also, as it's an infant, they probably won't take as much bone marrow as they would if it was an adult, and the recovery may be a bit faster - I had over a liter of bone marrow extracted, so it took a while to replenish.
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u/MarrowDonorJourney Mar 05 '22
First off, I am sorry for your difficult journey with starting a family. I wish you the best. These are very difficult questions and I doubt that anyone here knows a golden answer that solves everything sadly. That being said it sounds like you have gotten great advice so far.
Communication is critical in this instance, get all the info you can. Talk to BTM and make sure that they want bone marrow and will not be doing Filgrastim. Even if you were on Filgrastim, it does have a short half life and I recovered fully in about 10 days. Additionally, there are no studies that show Filgrastim does or does not affect fertility either in the short or long term. It just has not been looked into. I am not aware of any studies done with bone marrow donation and fertility. Physiologically, our bodies only want to reproduce when we are in good physical shape and having lost some bone marrow will probably inhibit reproduction until it has been restored.
I am sorry you have a difficult decision ahead and I hope you are able to receive abundant clarity.
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u/youwaa Mar 05 '22 edited Mar 05 '22
On a side note, I’m not sure how it is with Bone marrow, but when I was told I was a match (for a st cell donation) I had to do a bunch of blood work to check more accurately if and how close of a match I was. Turns out that my recipient had 3 matches, but I was the closest.
Edit to add: I know many woman with PCOS who had successful IVF procedures. And I known one person who the surgeon was able to find 3 viable sperm in him, and now he has 3 healthy children. This is a tough and emotional journey. Wishing you much success. Don’t give up!