Running out of limbs
Some debts are paid--gladly--in blood. So, for many years, I have given mine to square accounts. Both subtle hints from Red Cross, and prodding from a former supervisor, finally got me to step up from whole blood to platelet donation.
Given the medical amusements of the rest of the week, it would seem to be an inauspicious time to try platelet donation. However, blood donors insensibly fall into a life cycle of 56 days (the interval between safe donations) and my moment had come. I had an afternoon on my hands and so tried a walk-in platelet donation.
Disclaimer: anyone looking for an excuse not to donate blood has come to the wrong address. I've been deep in this business, and whatever you have heard, synthetic blood is way in the future. Also, whole blood has become a comparatively primitive way of making your donation. Each pint of whole blood, or its equivalent, can be divided and redivided to help more than one person. At the cost of a larger time commitment, depending on what you do, you can extend the benefit of your donation severalfold. There are all too many legitimate (and a couple of dubious) reasons not to accept blood. Here, we don't accept being scared of needles, et al., as legitimate excuses.
That said, platelet donation has a learning curve. For one thing, not everyone qualifies, which makes it that much more important for those who do to step up. There is also, I've learnt, insider knowledge that makes the process go more smoothly. Hard-core whole-blood donors like me can pump out a pint in less than ten minutes: the bulk of the time commitment is the paperwork before, and the recovery after, the donation. Platelet donation takes two hours, plus paperwork and recovery. This works best if one plans ahead, makes an appointment, and otherwise makes ready. OK, lesson learnt.
Another feature is that while whole-blood donation, and some types of apheresis donation, require only one arm like whole blood donation, I was doing the two-arm method. Put crudely, the process pumps blood out of one arm, splits out the platelet cells, and pumps the remaining plasma into the other arm. This requires that a) one keeps one's arms quite still for the whole two hours or b) failing that, one knows when to ask for help with certain activities of daily living, such as rubbing one's nose.
Things went quite well for an hour or so. Then, I felt a twitch in my left (incoming) arm, followed by the chillin' sensation that tells the hard-core donor that all is not well. I was making contact with the techs at the same moment the machine began redlining. Yep, sure, the incoming vein had misbehaved and plasma was merrily pumping into the surrounding tissue. End of donation. I felt rather bad about this until they said first that I had given a usable donation, and second that this shit happens.
It will be late tomorrow before I'm doing any lifting worth mentioning. Since I already have one leg at less than 100 percent, I'm feeling a little short of limbs.
Fifty-six days from now I will be back at this, with my accumulated knowledge. Because I am eligible and because this is one debt that will never be fully paid.
Given the medical amusements of the rest of the week, it would seem to be an inauspicious time to try platelet donation. However, blood donors insensibly fall into a life cycle of 56 days (the interval between safe donations) and my moment had come. I had an afternoon on my hands and so tried a walk-in platelet donation.
Disclaimer: anyone looking for an excuse not to donate blood has come to the wrong address. I've been deep in this business, and whatever you have heard, synthetic blood is way in the future. Also, whole blood has become a comparatively primitive way of making your donation. Each pint of whole blood, or its equivalent, can be divided and redivided to help more than one person. At the cost of a larger time commitment, depending on what you do, you can extend the benefit of your donation severalfold. There are all too many legitimate (and a couple of dubious) reasons not to accept blood. Here, we don't accept being scared of needles, et al., as legitimate excuses.
That said, platelet donation has a learning curve. For one thing, not everyone qualifies, which makes it that much more important for those who do to step up. There is also, I've learnt, insider knowledge that makes the process go more smoothly. Hard-core whole-blood donors like me can pump out a pint in less than ten minutes: the bulk of the time commitment is the paperwork before, and the recovery after, the donation. Platelet donation takes two hours, plus paperwork and recovery. This works best if one plans ahead, makes an appointment, and otherwise makes ready. OK, lesson learnt.
Another feature is that while whole-blood donation, and some types of apheresis donation, require only one arm like whole blood donation, I was doing the two-arm method. Put crudely, the process pumps blood out of one arm, splits out the platelet cells, and pumps the remaining plasma into the other arm. This requires that a) one keeps one's arms quite still for the whole two hours or b) failing that, one knows when to ask for help with certain activities of daily living, such as rubbing one's nose.
Things went quite well for an hour or so. Then, I felt a twitch in my left (incoming) arm, followed by the chillin' sensation that tells the hard-core donor that all is not well. I was making contact with the techs at the same moment the machine began redlining. Yep, sure, the incoming vein had misbehaved and plasma was merrily pumping into the surrounding tissue. End of donation. I felt rather bad about this until they said first that I had given a usable donation, and second that this shit happens.
It will be late tomorrow before I'm doing any lifting worth mentioning. Since I already have one leg at less than 100 percent, I'm feeling a little short of limbs.
Fifty-six days from now I will be back at this, with my accumulated knowledge. Because I am eligible and because this is one debt that will never be fully paid.
Labels: blood donation
posted by Uncle | 23:28
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