OT: Blood Donations

[TsPoet]

My company's blood drive guy says (and I'm paraphrasing, since I wasn't taking notes)
The Pacific Northwest is in its worst donor blood crisis in years. Due to the weather, some Red Cross offices have had to be closed off and on - and that means there isn't enough blood.
He says - please donate if you've ever even thought about it.

[KnottedYet]

I can't. Once you've had cancer you are a huge NO-NO in the donation world. No blood. No bone marrow. No participating in AIDS vaccine trials.

Oooh, do I sound bitter? I don't mean to be bitter! Everyone who can, please donate while you can! Someday you may be disallowed, and you will feel regret and gnash your teeth over being left out!!

Do it NOW!!!

[Dianyla]

Do it NOW!!!

Unless you're anemic or have low iron. Which a huge percentage of female athletes are, due to menstrual blood losses and the higher iron requirements of endurance exercise.

Be aware that the simple "iron drop" test done by blood donation organizations is very rudimentary and will only disqualify you from donating if you're seriously anemic. If you are borderline it will often say you're good enough to donate.

I'm not trying to trash the Red Cross or other phlebotomy charities, but please just be aware of this. Visit your doctor and have your serum ferritin levels tested to know whether you need to be supplementing with iron pills if you still wish to be a blood donor.

[East Hill]

Mr. East Hill and I donated last on December 29. I have donated over 54 units in my lifetime. Mr. East Hill is not far behind, with 49 units.

We'll donate again after our minimum recovery time.

KnottedYet, I would assume that you had leukemia or one of the lymphomas? Not asking you to reply, but it is possible for some cancer survivors to donate, as per the American Red Cross website:

Cancer
Eligibility depends on the type of cancer and treatment history. If you had leukemia or lymphoma, including Hodgkin’s Disease, you are not eligible to donate. Other types of cancer are acceptable if the cancer has been treated successfully and it has been at least 5 years since treatment was completed and there has been no cancer recurrence in this time. Some low-risk cancers including squamous or basal cell cancers of the skin do not require a 5 year waiting period.

Precancerous conditions of the uterine cervix do not disqualify you from donation if the abnormality has been treated successfully. You should discuss your particular situation with the health historian at the time of donation.



East Hill

[SadieKate]

I wish! I wish! We had a long conversation about blood donation on Thread Drift (is that the right thread), and there are several of us knocked off the list for a variety of reasons. We are a danger to others.

[MomOnBike]

As a mother of a daughter who has had a very serious GI bleed twice I donate every chance I get. I realize how important it can be.

It's worth walking around for a while feeling a quart low. Someone needs the blood. Oddly, I just hope it's nobody I know.

[Kitsune06]

Alright, fine.

I'm scheduled to be tapped the 23rd over lunch. happy now?

[Aggie_Ama]

Oddly, you cannot donate if you have Crohn's disease that is active or you are on therapy. I cannot figure that one out, someone please explain it. My DH wanted to donate recently and I read that he could not. I can't donate for another few months due to a vaccine I got that I didn't need. Don't start me on that one, but I am excluded right now.

[Kitsune06]

Vaccines are *never* a bad idea. Don't *start *me* on it, but you don't just wander around waiting to step on a nail/cut yourself/etc etc to get your tetanus updated, don't wait 'till you have liver damage to get your hep vaccinations... etc etc. Not *one* that was created that society doesn't need (or didn't at the time- how common is polio now?)
Just saying.
...now for my rabies booster...

[Dianyla]

Just saying.
...now for my rabies booster...

Amen, sistah. Funny enough - a few months ago I was considering getting a rabies vaccine that was "highly recommended" for travelling in Peru. It wasn't covered by insurance and would have cost $500!

[Kitsune06]

it's amazing the stuff not covered by insurance. I've read reports about multi-strain vaccines triggering autoimmune responses in people, but if you weigh the risk to the benefit... still you come out ahead.
I'm wondering if I would've had to pay an arm and a leg for my Hep B vaccines had they come out after I was in school. As it was, we all got herded down to the cafeteria and poked. One of my friends fainted. Poor chica.

[Grog]

Amen, sistah. Funny enough - a few months ago I was considering getting a rabies vaccine that was "highly recommended" for travelling in Peru. It wasn't covered by insurance and would have cost $500!

If you insurance covers your medical treatments when you're abroad, I'd suggest giving them a call and asking them about this. Who knows, maybe they'd rather pay $500 up front than deal with the (much more expensive) consequences if you were to catch the nasties once in Peru!!!!

It's too late now, but I'd be curious to know if that would work... But then, I'm just a Canadian enjoying (mostly) free health care... (Few vaccines are free though, even here...)

[Grog]

Oddly, you cannot donate if you have Crohn's disease that is active or you are on therapy. I cannot figure that one out, someone please explain it.

When you say "on therapy", do you mean "taking medication"? That would be why they wouldn't want your blood for the moment...

They might also worry that if you're already having a Crohn episode giving blood would further trouble your system, route precious bodily resources towards making new blood instead of keeping yourself together, etc...

[Aggie_Ama]

When you say "on therapy", do you mean "taking medication"? That would be why they wouldn't want your blood for the moment...

They might also worry that if you're already having a Crohn episode giving blood would further trouble your system, route precious bodily resources towards making new blood instead of keeping yourself together, etc...

I meant medicine, I refer to my husband's as therapy because that is what his gastroenterologist calls it. I understand the medicine and I guess the fact that giving blood would be rough on someone in the middle of a flare up.

Kit- I got a nasty deep bruise from a Hepatitis Vaccine. I got the vaccine because my husband was misdiagnosed with Hepatitis instead of Crohn's. Since I hurt for 4 weeks after the vaccine, I am little annoyed about getting it.

That being said, I was mad at myself for being behind on my tetnus shot when I cut my toe on some rusty rebar!

Enough thread hi-jacking. I commend all of you who are able and willing to donate blood, you saved my mother-in-law this summer when she needed a blood transfusion before her emergency hysterectomy.