devarim

I donated blood today. Mostly. On a whim, I walked a couple of blocks out of my way after Bar/Bri this afternoon (I went to a make-up session at New England School of Law) and the center had room for drop-ins. Yay. It's been a very long time since I've been able to donate, since more than half the times that I try, my iron is too low. Bah. I've been dutifully taking my vitamins for the past couple of weeks, including extra iron supplements. Hemocrit number today: 39. Passing is 38. Woo-hoooooooo!

The downtown Boston Red Cross Blood Center does apherisis, and I signed up to donate red blood cells and platelets. It's a 2-hour process, but apparently more helpful than just filling a bag with a pint of whole blood. During the process, particularly at the end, the machine pumps saline back into your bloodstream so you are at least somewhat rehydrated (if still low on RBCs and platelets). I've donated this way several times before without incident, so I expected today's donation to be no different. I watched the news (over and over, it seemed) and flipped trhugh my Bar/Bri essay review book with my free hand.

About ten minutes before the end of the procedure, I started to feel lightheaded and nauseated...um, not good. Called out that I felt dizzy, and within seconds two nurses (they're nurses, right? phlebotomists?) were at my sides, tilting my chair back, placing ice packs behind my neck and on my chest, whipping off my hat to cool me off, and putting a paper bag over my face to ward off hyperventilation. It took me about fifteen minutes to feel well enough to sit up, another five or so before I could stand, and then another five walking slowly around the center before I felt well enough to walk to the T. By the time I got out to Brookline, I had to call Julian and ask him to pick me up at the T stop. It's only three blocks from there to our apartment, so you can imagine how pathetic I felt. It took me another hour after getting home before I felt well enough to plug in my computer and check my email (so now you really know it was bad.)

Loads of fun, let me tell you. A whole damn barrel full of monkeys.

I'd had only one prior bad experience when donating. The second time I donated (whole blood at a school blood drive), when I was 18, I threw up a couple of minutes before the bag was completely full. At traveling blood drives, they fill the sample tubes at the end of the procedure, and I heard someone saying they weren't going to be able to use my blood because they had no samples for safety testing. I remember screaming, "I'm fine, I'm fine--just fill the damn tubes!" Puke. "Fill the tubes!" (They did, in fact, fill the tubes. I think.)

With today's procedure, the sample tubes were filled from a little pouch of whole blood that was filled first. Brilliant. My donation is usable! It turns out I filled my platelets bag and was about 85% of the way to filling my RBC bag, so I guess this was mostly a success. Actually, the only significant part of the procedure that didn't happen was the part where they rehydrate you.

Bottoms up.