barbaloot suits

Blood

What is it that makes blood donation so appealing?  I donated for the first time in January and just felt so good about it.  I don’t think it was just the feeling of of being “needed” and both healthy and willing to put my drop in the bucket toward the good of society (no pun intended), but also some weird satisfaction about physically giving part of my body.  I won’t discount the possibility that it’s some benign form of enjoying doctor/hospital attention (which makes me think of the extremity of that—Munchausen syndrome!).

The other night I actually got a call from my local Red Cross on my cell phone after 8 pm asking me to donate, 4 days before I was even eligible again.  Desperate?  The thing is, I got this donor card in the mail that told me my blood type, which of course turned out to be the RAREST type of blood in the world, AB negative, which only 1 in 167 people have.  My red blood cells aren’t too helpful, but my plasma and platelets are, and it turns out there is another way to donate those that is a lot more helpful than making them separate them from your whole blood after a normal type of donation.  It’s called apheresis.  I actually emailed the Red Cross in Schenectady about this, and they responded the next day!  This is what they said:

Hello Caitlin, We are happy you contacted us about donations. Your blood type, as you know, is rare. The type of donation you would be doing is a platelet/plasma donation. This is a two needle, two arm donation and would take approximately two – two and a half hours at our site. You must remain aspirin free for three full days prior to the donation. The reason for this is that aspirin destroys platelets. We would also ask that you increase your calcium intake starting the day before your donation. You must bring picture ID. We can schedule you April 7^th or after our Crosstown site in Schenectady. You will arrive at the site and do a health history. You will then be in a reclining chair for the donation. Your donation starts from one arm and goes through a machine that acts like a centrifuge. It will separate your platelets and plasma and your red blood cells are returned to you in the other arm. You are the universal donor for plasma; every hospital has a supply of AB plasma so they can render immediate aid to patients without the need to wait for typing. Plasma can be frozen and stored. Platelets are the clotting factor in your blood. They cannot be frozen or stored. They are tested and in a patient within five days. The primary use but by no means the exclusive use is for patients with cancer, leukemia, and transplant patients. A healthy person will replace the platelets within three days of their donation and plasma within 28 days. A person doing this type of donation may donate every 28 days if they are only doing this type of donation. I am sure you are aware that the need continues to grow for this type of donation and how important it is. When your donation is done you will have a snack and drink in our canteen. We do have satellite tv and current dvd’s but you are certainly welcome to bring your own dvd is you wish.

I might actually consider doing this!  What do you think: am I a good person, or just a satisfaction-seeking weirdo?