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I know a bunch of you guys are regular blood donors, but it was really empty today when I gave blood.

Try to find the time, I think they need it.

christie1111 wrote:I know a bunch of you guys are regular blood donors, but it was really empty today when I gave blood.

Try to find the time, I think they need it.

They've put out a call for donors in the local area - with the power outages a lot of blood was thrown out because it wasn't kept at the proper temperature. Regrettably I can't give blood any longer because I'm at the age where my veins are too deep and they roll. The last time I tried the phlebotomist must have tried half a dozen times but couldn't ever find a vein.

When I saw the subject I thought you were referring to fluctuations in the international currency market...

I used to donate a lot of blood, but most recently (about 4 months ago) when there was a blood drive at my office they wouldn't take it. Since I lived in Switzerland for 8 years that made my blood verboten - they said something along the lines of possible mad-cow exposure and no test to screen for it.

I don't recall ever being rejected because of that on previous donations so I guess it is something new that they added ;-( sort of left me foaming at the mouth (then they rejected me because they thought I had rabies).

The only other time I couldn't donate was around 28 years ago, after I was diagnosed with Chrone's. I was taking a sulfer-based medication that made me exempt. Up until that point I had already made 12 donations, which is approximatly the number of pints of blood in an average person's body. So I would tell people, truthfully, that I had given all the blood in my body and I couldn't give anymore. About 20 years ago I had an operation and have been medication free - so I was able to resume donation until the found too much cheese and chocolate in my blood and wont let me donate any more *sniff*.

---Jay

frogman042 wrote:When I saw the subject I thought you were referring to fluctuations in the international currency market...

I used to donate a lot of blood, but most recently (about 4 months ago) when there was a blood drive at my office they wouldn't take it. Since I lived in Switzerland for 8 years that made my blood verboten - they said something along the lines of possible mad-cow exposure and no test to screen for it.

I don't recall ever being rejected because of that on previous donations so I guess it is something new that they added ;-( sort of left me foaming at the mouth (then they rejected me because they thought I had rabies).

The only other time I couldn't donate was around 28 years ago, after I was diagnosed with Chrone's. I was taking a sulfer-based medication that made me exempt. Up until that point I had already made 12 donations, which is approximatly the number of pints of blood in an average person's body. So I would tell people, truthfully, that I had given all the blood in my body and I couldn't give anymore. About 20 years ago I had an operation and have been medication free - so I was able to resume donation until the found too much cheese and chocolate in my blood and wont let me donate any more *sniff*.

---Jay

The "mad cow" deferral is somewhat new and applies to most everyone one who has lived in western Europe. IMHO its stupid and harmful. It eliminated most service persons who had a tour of duty in Europe. On my Halloween Week application I translated my donations from pints to Buckets of Blood. (According to Google a Bucket = 4 gal.)

themanintheseersuckersuit wrote:

frogman042 wrote:When I saw the subject I thought you were referring to fluctuations in the international currency market...

I used to donate a lot of blood, but most recently (about 4 months ago) when there was a blood drive at my office they wouldn't take it. Since I lived in Switzerland for 8 years that made my blood verboten - they said something along the lines of possible mad-cow exposure and no test to screen for it.

I don't recall ever being rejected because of that on previous donations so I guess it is something new that they added ;-( sort of left me foaming at the mouth (then they rejected me because they thought I had rabies).

The only other time I couldn't donate was around 28 years ago, after I was diagnosed with Chrone's. I was taking a sulfer-based medication that made me exempt. Up until that point I had already made 12 donations, which is approximatly the number of pints of blood in an average person's body. So I would tell people, truthfully, that I had given all the blood in my body and I couldn't give anymore. About 20 years ago I had an operation and have been medication free - so I was able to resume donation until the found too much cheese and chocolate in my blood and wont let me donate any more *sniff*.

---Jay

The "mad cow" deferral is somewhat new and applies to most everyone one who has lived in western Europe. IMHO its stupid and harmful. It eliminated most service persons who had a tour of duty in Europe. On my Halloween Week application I translated my donations from pints to Buckets of Blood. (According to Google a Bucket = 4 gal.)

I'm gonna change too!

Thanks for the tip!

I am banned from giving blood.

They kinda frown on people passing out during the process.

christie1111 wrote:I know a bunch of you guys are regular blood donors, but it was really empty today when I gave blood.

Try to find the time, I think they need it.

Thanks for donating, Christie.

I donate as soon as I'm eligible. They have the best popcorn!

OK, that's not why I donate. I do love popcorn.

Jeff is O positive and CMV negative so they love his blood for pediatric patients.

I don't like needles, and have an undesirable blood type, so I don't donate. I figure that I give back to the universe in other ways.

You do give back to the universe in many other ways, but I have to take exception to the "undesirable blood type" thing. I'm not convinced there is such a thing....

I'm going Thursday afternoon. Lower the blood pressure a bit!

My water aerobics class is Tues/Thurs evening -- the new session just started tonight, after a break since July. I always wonder how soon it's safe to swim after donating I could skip it, but I hate to.

VAdame wrote:I'm going Thursday afternoon. Lower the blood pressure a bit!

My water aerobics class is Tues/Thurs evening -- the new session just started tonight, after a break since July. I always wonder how soon it's safe to swim after donating I could skip it, but I hate to.

I don't know about swimming because of the hole in your skin. I've done a light workout many times after donating. No weights, though.

mrkelley23 wrote:You do give back to the universe in many other ways, but I have to take exception to the "undesirable blood type" thing. I'm not convinced there is such a thing....

I am AB positive. The only people that can use my blood are other AB positive people, which is about 3.4 percent of the population.