donate platelets

I donated whole blood every time I could (only a few times per year because it made my iron levels low). One day they asked me to get tested for platelet donation. I did and found out I have REALLY high counts of platelets. I started donating and can donate 3 units in an hour. You get your blood back, so there’s no woozy feeling. I also get the tingly feeling, so before donating, I chew a few Tums tablets. It’s so easy. You watch TV (I don’t watch a movie because of my short donation time). They can use each unit for 3 people, so a triple donation helps 9 people. I have a friend with leukemia, so it makes me feel great to do this. How easy is it to sit in a chair for an hour?

After playing a surprising game of phone tag with the blood services people, I finally managed to talk with someone about donating platelets. They said that because I have a positive blood type, it would be better for me to go the quicker route of donating whole blood for them to extract the platelets from rather than using the plateletpheresis machine which there are limited appointments for, so they prefer to use them for people with negative blood types – it makes sense.

Saturday (which was cancerfree2003’s birthday), I made an appointment and went in. My iron was high (yay!) so I filled out the paperwork and waited. I spoke with the nurse and was all ready to go, then she took my temperature. Too high. I explained that I’d had a warm bath before leaving, and we were having a mini heat wave outside – I tend to get quite warm, but felt top notch health wise. We waited 15 minutes and tried again, but I was still 37.8 and needed to be 37.5. Very disappointing.

Fortunately I don’t need to wait the usual 3 months between tries, so I’ll go in on a cooler day and skip the soak beforehand. I’ll check this off following my next accepted draining. AND if I can convince someone out there with a negative blood type to go in for donation as well, it would make me really, really happy.

...and I’m signed up to donate again this Friday. I’m planning on donating every other Friday until my arms look like swiss cheese or I drop dead.

In a way this seems like some sort of evil experiment—how many times can they poke me in the arm in the same place before it doesn’t heal any more? :D

My goal is to donate platelets as often as I can for the rest of my life. After years of donating whole blood, the American Red Cross got me donating platelets in June ‘07. Since I have a high platelet count I can usually give a triple, and always donate from one arm (the vein in the other arm is tough to find). The Timonium, MD ARC Donor Center staff is absolutely the best. As of mid-November ‘09 I’ve donated 48 times, for a total of around 130 units of platelets. Man, do I have a lot of Red Cross tee-shirts (and pins and hats and tote bags)! If you can, please donate!

i attempted to donate platelets last weekend and they had some trouble finding the vein in my right arm. (i usually donate blood with the left arm.) after some poking, prodding, and needle shifting, they had to stop. even though that was uncomfortable, the people were nice and tried their best. i’ll try again the next chance i get! they have a nice selection of movie titles too :b

i heard one of the goofy DJs talking about it on the radio over the summer and if he can do it i figured i could too.

my first donation was on july 26th and i’ve done it every two weeks since.

i have donated a total of 12 units over 5 trips. it takes me about 90 minutes to donate 3 units. i take my ipod touch with me and watch movies or tv shows, and i get nutter butters afterwards. because they give you back your blood (after separating the platelets), you don’t feel weak or anything (although you may feel numb in the lips and cold in your hands on the blood return).

on the days that i go (every other saturday), it’s the best thing i do all day. i’m home by 10a and i get to watch football for the rest of the day.

if you’re a blood donor or you are thinking of being a blood donor, please give it a shot. if you don’t want to spend up to 90 minutes in a chair (the first time, it took 30 minutes to donate 1 unit), at least think about donating whole blood. that takes a fraction of the time and it’s so worth it.

-dan

I went this morning for my first platelet donation. I’m so happy to have finally completed this goal! I really want to keep doing this – I made an appointment for the beginning of October, and if all continues going well I may set up a standing appointment to give every month.

It was definitely a different experience than regular blood donation. Having needles in both arms freaked me out at first, and was so COLD! (Your blood cools off in the machine before they return it to your arm) but after I got over that it was pretty relaxing. The knowledge that I helped save a life makes it completely worthwile.

I just went on my lunch break today. Luckily nobody noticed I was gone for 2 1/2 hours. Other than feeling a little lightheaded afterward this was a piece of cake. And, I finally got to watch Bridget Jones’s Diary while I was donating.

Well, I screwed this one up. I accidentally got shitty drunk Friday night and slept through my appointment on Saturday but I will make another one for this Saturday.

Since they said it takes two hours, I can’t go on my lunch break. Well, I could, but I would feel guilty about it. So I made an appointment for Saturday at 11am. I’m excited. And, they are going to tissue type me too so that I can get added to the marrow donor registry!

:P