If you are a match to the patient in need of a transplant, you will be contacted and advised where to go and when to be there. When you arrive at the hospital you will be admitted from early morning until late afternoon in usual cases.
You will be given anesthesia to block the pain during the marrow donation. If you opt for general anesthesia, you will be unconscious during the entire procedure and will be incapable of experiencing any pain at that time. If you receive regional anesthesia like an epidural, you will still feel no pain in the area where the marrow is collected, but you will be conscious during the procedure. General anesthesia is used in most cases.
Doctors will withdraw liquid marrow from both sides of the back of the pelvic bone. The incisions made for this are less than one-fourth inch long and do not require stitches.
You will experience some discomfort afterwards. Some donors describe the pain as similar to achy hip bones. Others say it feels more like a strained muscle in the back. The ache may last a few days to several weeks. Is that too much to ask to save a life?
