Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with marrow

Cancer sucks!

litterateur — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 18:42:53 -0800

It looks like my leukemia may have returned (AML) and my doctor said earlier that if this happened, I'm looking at a bone marrow transplant. Any experience? 24, female, otherwise healthy (you know, besides the cancer). For any of you praying folk, do you mind obliging? Thanks.

Will taking Adderall be a "permanent deferral" from donating bone marrow?

slc228 — Fri, 02 Mar 2007 19:23:34 -0800

Will taking Adderall be a "permanent deferral" from donating bone marrow? I am wanting to be put on the bone marrow donor list, but I am wondering if Adderall will prevent me from doing so. I found this link (for California):
http://www.cencalblood.org/plasmabone.html

Does anyone know if this is true for Virginia? If so, why?

It's a needle in a Haystack, but will the needle hurt?

matty — Tue, 13 Feb 2007 14:31:12 -0800

Over 3 years ago I registered with the National Bone Marrow Donor Program as part of a charity event. It was really simple - all they did was take a little blood... Today I get a phone call that apparently, I'm a match. Is there anyone here that has some PERSONAL experience with everything involved? I've found some websites and searched the AskMe. This community has the tendency to be blatantly honest, so I'm looking for anyone that can give me an idea of what's really going to happen - not necessarily what I'm going to read from a 'testimonial' on a website.

I've already decided to go through with it, but I just want to know on a more personal level what I'm in store for. Bonus points given to anyone that can provide links to info that I may have missed in my initial Google-ing.

Ahh! I have blood!

limeonaire — Wed, 07 Jun 2006 19:05:54 -0800

BloodFilter: How do new blood cells make their way out of bones? Help this anatomy-challenged Mefite understand! This may seem like a silly question. But I've Googled like crazy, and I've still been unable to find anything that will explain in minute detail how exactly the blood cells created in humans' bone marrow make their way out of the bones.

I've found the Wikipedia stub about hematopoiesis, but that only explains how blood cells are formed, not the path they take to get out of the bones.

So how does it work? Do blood cells make their way out of "pores" or "channels" in the spongy part of the bone? That was the best guess my friends and I could come up with—but we don't know if it's correct. And even if it is correct, it still doesn't explain how the cells get into the bloodstream. Are there veins that directly abut the bone? If so, how do the blood cells move into the veins—do they somehow go through the blood vessel wall?

I never took an anatomy class, and the only biology I had was eight years ago—I took physics courses in college. Please forgive my ignorance!

Can dogs eat beef bones safely?

Peter H — Tue, 25 Jan 2005 09:12:27 -0800

Can dogs eat beef bones? My dog loves them (the raw discarded sort from butchers or rib joints) but when I give him one he goes crazy, actually consuming the bone and digging into the marrow. It worries me, but I've heard the marrow is good for them. But every time I've given him one I've had to take it away because he just gets too crazy. I know they can't have chicken bones (obviously, ow!) but what are the risks of giving him a beef bone as an occasional primal treat, even if it means he'll likely chew the whole thing up?