I got platelets for days...
After posting the circumstances under which I last gave blood, I felt like a heel, so I decided for the sake of my karma to give blood again. Turns out I have very healthy blood, so healthy and platelet-rich that they think I'll be a great candidate for apheresis donation:
The donation itself takes approximately 90 to 120 minutes. During this time, you can sit back in a specially contoured chair, relax, watch a movie or listen to music. While you relax, a small portion of your blood (less than one pint at a time), is drawn from your arm and passed through a highly sophisticated cell-separating machine which collects the platelets and returns the rest of your blood components to you. Your blood passes through a sterile, disposable kit that is used once -- for you -- and discarded. Your blood never touches the machine.
Regular blood donation is part of my initiative to be a better person. The other part is community service knitting, Sundays 12-2. Hopefully doing these things will make me happier as well as help others.
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Not on Topic
LOVE the latest portrait of self. I know it's probably not *really* candid but I like photos like that one much more than smiling poses. :)
Michelle
Thanks
Nah, not a candid. :) I was in my car (had parked) about to go to a coffeeshop and read. Glad you like it!
Community Knitting/Blood Donation
This afternoon, I went to the community knitting group for the first time, and I decided to start a baby blanket. I think it will go to a children's hospital, but I'm not sure. The reason I bring this up is, one woman mentioned the Red Cross, and I said, "Hey, what's the closest Red Cross location to here?" She told me, and then I brought up that I was considering apheresis. She lit up, and an enthusiastic discussion about blood donation ensued. Her husband (who was also there) is a regular apheresis donor, and many of the other women are regular donors too. I told them I was getting serious about every-other-month blood donation (which is as often as they'll let you), especially because my mother used to donate every other month until getting breast cancer. Now she can't anymore since she's had chemotherapy, so I want to pick up where she left off. :-) I find this little community knitting/regular blood donation correlation interesting, and I wonder how gift experts explain something like that.