During the hols (i.e. a relatively quiet day in the office), Kings emailed for a rep from Cordlife Ltd to come meet us near his workplace at lunch, similarly summoning Rockstar and myself over so I could sign the relevant papers.
- The gold lame (yeah strangely/) shopping bag they hand us with the harvesting kit in it
We did this thing for Rockstar and now plan to do the same for Rockstar, Too. This thing meaning having cordblood harvested at time of delivery, and stored cryogenically away for 18 years (which is the longest they’ll agree to provide safe storage of the bio material before I guess reviewing if the material can be kept for longer).
The stem cells in the cord blood can be used to treat over 80 diseases, including some cancers and blood disorders. Like other “insurances” we buy, this is one of those things you pray fervently never have to use – it’s an irony of buying insurance that you hope it’s money down the drain haha – but if you ever needed the material, there is no amount of money you wouldn’t pay to have it. (Speaking of which, we paid HKD 33,000 for the material to be stored 18 years… Well, to be exact HKD 13,500 you have to pay for any amount of time you want it stored, being enrollment, processing and testing fees, and then HKD 19,500 is to store it for the 18 years.)
Excerpt from the reading material in our package:
“… in pediatric transplants, cord blood stem cells are now the most frequently used source (over bone marrow and peripheral blood stem cells. ……..stem cells from umbilical cord blood have a much higher proliferative capacity, a better differentiation potential and a lower body defense mechanism, giving them greater advantages over other adult stem cell sources.”
Later when we’re at lunch, I would suddenly realize one of my senior ex-RMs I haven’t seen in ages is seated at the next table – and she’s heavily pregnant. She’s already seen the gold Cordlife carrier bag, and asks how I feel about the company (she’s local Hongkie btw; at this private bank I got hung up on when during the early morning shift I answered the dealing line in English – the person on the other line muttered “Kong ying mun wor” i.e. “Speaking in English wor”…)
I think the biggest risk to paying HKD 33,000 upfront is of course the company goes belly up in the course of the 18 years, or isn’t doing well and so cuts costs and corners and somehow doesn’t manage to store the bio material properly, in which case the worst case scenario is if/when you need the cord blood (needing it already being bad, if you ask me) you then find it’s not in a usable condition anymore. We could actually have chosen to store it for 5 years (I think it was HKD 20,500) and then take it from there, just we umm, didn’t. Bit lazy <sheepish>.
But seriously, if you were worried you might want to review every 5 years whether the company seems to be storing the cordblood properly… Except we figured a large part of “properly” is hard for us to determine anyway – they have the talks and briefings but up to a point it’s not that easy to determine how much better one cryogenic facility is from another… So we went with the most commonly-used longer-standing company among our friends/ colleagues and a prayer it will never matter (i.e. never need to use).
- Oh how cute, I even have 2 (rock)stars on the kit
We’re handed a sturdy little cardboard box that the rep opens briefly to show us before sealing and reminding us not to let Rockstar play with it. (Well d-uh – it’s got needles in it and everything.) I also have to sign 2 copies of a form releasing my Gynea from liability should she fail to harvest the cord blood during delivery. “HK law provides an additional layer of protection to the doctor,” we’re told. Briefly we wonder if the incidence of lawsuits for alleged malpractice is higher here than say in Singapore (where the Cordlife company is from btw – which is probably why harvesting cordblood does seem to be a more common practice among our friends in Singapore; well I think there’s a Public Bank in Singapore too, where you register because even if you don’t want to store your cordblood privately the stem cells may save someone someday)…
Then our rep writes her cellphone number on the box, telling us to call her anytime – including in the middle of the night – if we have any questions especially at time of delivery when we are supposed to bring the box with us to the hospital and hand it to my Gynea.
- Sealed box…
Last time I have a vague recollection of my Gynea saying casually, “Oh yeah, you’re doing that? Ok (will harvest)…” but no memory of the box, during Rockstar’s delivery – Kings says he packed the box along when he carried all the other stuff I’d put together to go to the hospital when the time came (well I do remember he was driving back and forth quite a bit for food and various supplies in the first couple days – he would eventually also drive the dog home from her favorite boarding house before picking me and Rockstar up to go home)…
What I do remember is setting my alarm for 6am on de day – I awoke and scarfed down a last meal of Mc Donald’s double cheeseburger and fries because I was so worried about being ravenous from having to not eat before my operation at noon. My doctors were quite amused.
Also my Gynea saying at the time of delivery, “Ok, harvesting your cord blood now…” “Ok, if you don’t mind I’ll just have a look at your ovaries while I’m in there, otherwise it’s all done,” to which I replied “Yeah right, why not, since you’re already in there.” Rather surrealistic. But honestly, it was uncomfortable – I couldn’t feel anything down there sure, but there was cramping pain in (of all places) my neck, shoulder and arm, (which they explained was because they touched some nerve which is fairly common during the op), and I did feel nauseous… It’s more discomfort than most of my other girlfriends said they felt from their C-sections, though…
- And so off to lunch we went…
It occurred to me, that old saying if/ when God shuts a door he opens a window… I was just thinking that He allowed the discovery of stem cell technology to be used in this way (among many more discoveries in this world) to provide us with more tools to “fix” some of the “things wrong with this world” (if like me you believe cancers, and all the other ugly things that go on are somehow related to, and ultimately a product of, sin in this world).
Still I pray He doesn’t have to shut many doors…
“Rockstar, Too” I likey 🙂
If the Gynea fail to harvest the cord blood during delivery, does it mean that CordLife will waive the HKD 33,000 fee and charge another fee for the kit only?
Thanks… Well I would think so re charges.. Can’t imagine they will charge the whole testing n storage for 18 years fees if there is nothing for them to test or store…
I chose not to store cord blood. Studies are pretty inconclusive if it’s any use. Of course, it doesn’t hurt if you have the spare money, and I understand why other parents do it.
But one thing is for sure — from a broad societal point of view, it would be better if everyone donated cord blood / stem cells into a mass public facility, and then matches can be made for children who are sick. The chances that your child will need his blood are (thankfully) pretty low, the chances that SOME child will need his cord blood are much higher.
I looked to donate my cord blood in Hong Kong, but it’s really a pain. It can only be done at 3 of the public hospitals, and none of the private ones. I called a similar private company to ask if I could PAY to have my cord blood collected and donated to a public facility — but once they found out I wasn’t going to be a lucrative customer, they hung up on me. It made me suspicious that these companies are out to make a buck.
“The AAP (American Academy of Pediatrics” doesn’t recommend cord-blood banking for families who don’t have
a history of disease. That’s because research has not yet determined
the likelihood that a child would ever need his or her own stem cells,
nor has it confirmed that transplantation using self-donated cells
rather than cells from a relative or stranger is safer or more
effective. According to the AAP, “private storage of cord blood as
‘biological insurance’ is unwise. However, banking should be considered
if there is a family member with a current or potential need to undergo a
stem cell transplantation.”
As you say — some people like to buy insurance, which I totally understand. God forbid your child is sick and can’t find a matching donor. You just hope you or I or anyone we know will never need it.
I wish you and your children the best of luck in 2012!
And, of course, congratulations on expecting Rockstar Too! Babies are a wonderful thing,
I remember, a long time ago, reading about how you’d given up the Gina Ford method to snuggle with your baby in the mornings.
I also read her book. And while I took some tips from it, I also decided to ignore her rigid schedules.
And while we generally don’t co-sleep, this lazy New Year’s morning, my husband, my baby, my cat and I all crawled into bed together for a snuggle.
I know my relatives — and Gina Ford! — would probably be appalled. But it was such a nice way to start 2012.
Yes yes all the best to you, Mr Metrosexual and your daughter! May I ask what you meant by “studies inconclusive whether it’s any use” please? I didn’t spend that much time but the cordlife material we received (after we bot it) did have a statistic of 20,000 transplants having been performed using cord blood stem cells… Unless you mean that is a fairly small percentage or something?
When it comes to horrible illnesses that might affect our nearest and dearest some (like us) didn’t have the nerve to not do everything we could think of… Also because someone we know has a 4yr old who was recently diagnosed with leukemia about a month ago and they’re testing his siblings as donors… I understand even the donation is painful… And we’ve lost friend’s and relatives to various terrible illnesses…
Sorry this one’s a reply to your second comment re Gina Ford and co-sleeping but I can’t seem to reply your reply itself below… We didn’t give up on baby snuggling (not that it’s a bad idea!), Rockstar didn’t sleep in our bed til he was two… I was terrified of SIDS (and pretty much all manner of things, really :P) and after that we’d already got him used to his own bed anyway… I moved Rockstar back with me for a very personal reason – I wanted him to be closer to us in the wake of my quitting my job and trying to recover “lost bonding time”…
As for Gina Ford, if I remembered correctly I think we used the bits about strictly communicating “night n day” with blackout curtains etc… But I found the strict nap schedules impossible to follow and only mimicked some rather loosely… I think I mentioned out of desperation (he was terrifyingly nocturnal!) we played some baby sleep music very quietly in his sleep the mom he got back from hospital, and slowly used that (and cheerful nursery rhymes in contrast) to communicate sleep vs wake time… Then we set the cd to play in a loop thru the night to get him sleeping longer hours… It’s supposedly v relaxing music but we can’t hear it nowadays without feeling extremely stressed!
Hi there,
I just stumbled upon your nice little place and wanted to add a little comment.We did the cord blood thingy too and I learned also that :- the reason why they keep it for 18 years is that after that it doesn’t belong to you anymore… The legal owner becomes your kid and it become his choice to keep it or not.- the other thing about the value of the blood cord is that the kid is, of course, 100% compatible with it but so are his parents. For the mom it can go up to something like 80% and something like 50-60% for the dad in case they need a treatment that qualifies for it.- At the moment, you only have one shot to use it. You cannot “cultivate it”. Anyway I think it’s best to keep in its freezer all life long 🙂
Hi there, thanks for stopping by and for your contribution to my blog! We did the briefing first time round but not this time, and in blogging it I’d forgotten about the bits you mentioned. I can’t remember exactly all of what you said (also because while I was working, having Rockstar was sometimes a bit of a blur – hence another reason for the blog because I do regret that), but do have a vague recollection of the facts you mentioned. I knew the parents had some compatibility to the cord blood but thought the figure was about 50% for both parents, and hadn’t paid much attention because it hadn’t been on my mind – but of course it IS useful to note and those facts you mentioned are easily verifiable..
And yes now you mention, I remember about the 18 years when it becomes the child’s… I didn’t know about the “cannot cultivate” thing though, I think they need to harvest a minimum of 25 ml so then I’m guessing the more the merrier 🙂
Apparently they can also multiply the cell for you now if needed.