Blood
Well, not really.Today I did my first apheresis donation. This may seem odd, since Kristi worked for the better part of two years as a Red Cross apheresis nurse, but the fact is that I never felt I had the time to do it; a two-hour commitment is hard when you and your wife are working incongruent shifts and there's a kid to deal with.
But Kristi has now moved to an 8:30-4:30, five-day-a-week position as an apheresis recruiter, and yeah -- she recruited me.
The difference between donating platelets and donating whole blood is amazing. Apheresis donors get the comfortable, cushy beds. They get blankets and televisions and personal DVD players and a library of movies from which to choose. They get lots of personal attention. And you know what? They deserve every bit.
You're on that cushy bed for about two hours. You have a needle in each arm the entire time; you can't so much as scratch your nose by yourself, so the staff is more than happy to do that for you. (No, Scooter, I didn't ask them to scratch me anywhere else.) Small bladder? This might not be your thing. The anti-coagulant they pump into you binds with calcium in your blood, which can lead to physical reactions -- not severe, but odd. Plus, for whatever reason, the saline and anti-coagulant enter your body at room temp, not body temp, so you get cold quickly; blankets, heating pads and hot water bottles for your hands are standard equipment.
So this afternoon I watched a couple of Farscape episodes, got lots of TLC, and maybe helped save someone's life. Platelet donations end up, oddly enough, going to people who need platelets -- which often means cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy. Man, if there was ever an easy way to do something to make you feel good about yourself, this is it.
And the beauty of it is, I don't have to wait eight weeks to go back, as I would after a whole blood donation. In fact, I could go back in three days to donate again -- though I think every two weeks will be enough.
posted by MeanMrMustard @ 8:37 PM
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