Bone marrow donation is way harder than people say

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1. Office workers have to burn their PTO for all the pre-donation tests. Especially the health checkup—if you need a re-test, you're going back again lol.

2. You can't even fix your own schedule because the donation date depends on the patient's treatment progress. I had to keep bugging the coordinator to find out what was going on. It was a mess trying to plan anything.

3. Everyone said Grasin (G-CSF) shots weren't that bad? Bullshit, they hurt like hell. I'm sure it's nothing compared to what cancer patients go through, but working while on those shots is a death sentence. From day one, my hips and ribs were throbbing with every heartbeat.

4. They say hospitalization leave is guaranteed, but I only got lucky because I had good bosses. If you're at a shitty private company, they'll give you major side-eye and tell you to use your own vacation days. The association does help with the paid leave paperwork, though.

5. People say you can return to 'daily life' right after discharge, but my job involves a lot of moving around outside. In the heat, I was dizzy as hell. I also got hives all over my body for a week as a side effect of the Grasin. 'Daily life' only counts if you just sit at a desk all day. Otherwise... I don't know.

6. Getting the neck catheter in is fine, but brace yourself for when they pull it out. It hurts. Most reviews say it doesn't, but they're lying.

Helping a patient is honestly super rewarding, but this isn't something you can just brush off like a regular blood donation. I wish people told the truth so office workers could actually prepare for it...

1. Unless you're a civil servant or at a massive corp, your company is definitely gonna give you the side-eye.

2. The pain from Grasin shots... the pain from the neck tube... and if they use the arm needle, you're stuck lying there for over 5 hours unable to do anything.

If you look up reviews, everyone says it's 'doable,' but it's actually much harder than it looks.