measi's Diaryland Diary ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Back to the easy chair After nearly a two year break, I finally went back to donate platelets last night. I honestly don't remember when I'd last donated-- but it must have been just before I moved out of the city, since they still had me living at The Beast in their records. My previous issues with low iron have ironed (pardon the pun) themselves out. I've gone up a healthy ten points-- from 32 to 42. The cut-off for donation is 37 or 38. The RN's working at the clinic did tell me that I might have had trouble when I broke my platelet donation cycle to do a company-sponsored whole blood drive and threw my recovery system post-donation out of whack. Because of my high platelet count, they requested I stick to it.. apparently my level is high enough that they could do a double-draw on me. So I'll stick to platelets. It's more time in the chair-- about 90 minutes or so sitting there-- but I actually feel *better* after a platelet donation because they add an IV of fluids in there.. and it gives me some extra hydration. :) And the platelets recover in three days, as opposed to the eight weeks for whole blood. I get all of the red blood cells back, so there's no feeling of wooseyness afterwards. Just a sore spot in my elbowpit. Plus I get a free pay-per-view movie out of the deal to pass the time. Last night was Matchstick Men with Nicolas Cage. Not too bad. Enjoyable but didn't require too much brainpower to watch-- which is good when you have to keep your mind partially on holding your arm still and squeezing a little stress ball every once in a while. The scary thing, though? All of that hype post September 11th to donate blood? Completely gone. I was there for two hours. They have twelve chairs. One person was donating whole blood when I arrived. About a half-hour before I left, another platelet donor came in. That's it. According to the RN's, it's vicously slow. They're lucky to get five people a day coming in to donate... and this center is located in the center of Boston right across from New England Medical Center AND the Children's Hospital. So seriously... if you are healthy, haven't gotten a tattoo or piercing in the last year, aren't pregnant, and haven't had major surgery... go donate. Whole blood donations take a half-hour. Some places will give you freebee stuff for going (Fridays at the Boston one, for example, are free movie pass days). Blood can't be stored forever-- it has an extremely short shelf life. So it's important to keep donating as you are able. Karma can be a good thing. ~ Mel. 10:12 a.m. - 21 April 2004 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
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