Sorry you had a bad experience, Fire. Perhaps being that you were one of the last appointments of the day, they were just exhausted and impatient from a day's worth of blood taking. Who knows. But I also understand the strict guidelines they have to follow to protect public health. Kinda sucks for the donator, because here we are trying to do something truly GOOD and we're told we can't. I know how you feel.

It had been MANY years since I donated. For various reasons like pregnancy & breastfeeding of my three kids and then needing my blood during the racing season, I hadn't been able to. I would always get a pang of guilt whenever the email in my work's inbox said that we were having another blood drive downstairs. I tried to donate last winter, but was getting a cold and the nurses said no way.

So anyhooo, I finally donated earlier this month and felt really good about it, proud of myself, etc., even though it left me rather weak. Doing a hill ride a couple days later I'm sure didn't help. Then, an interesting thing developed and brings me to another point to add to this discussion -- post-donation blood testing.

This week, I got a letter from the company that collects, tests, and stores the blood for transfusion. The letter said that in testing a sample of my donated blood, they found an antibody that may interfere with, or worse, harm the blood of the intended transfusion patient. It is called "Little C" and is relatively rare, and thus it is not known if my blood will cause problems for patients. Soooo, my blood has been marked ineligible for transfusion for pretty much infinity, since this antibody is the type that will likely never leave my body over time.

Kinda makes me feel like I failed some patient out there, ya know. I'm a bit disappointed. But on a lighter note, I can hoard my blood during the racing season without guilt now. Well, as much guilt, anyway.

Fire, there is one good thing about trying and being rejected -- you can try again six weeks later, IF you're healthy. I understand you wanted to end the year on a good note, but perhaps now you can start '08 on a good one and catch the next blood drive.

Tailwindz
~BikeMomma