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MacRumors 2010 Blood Drive!
- Thread starter Doctor Q
- Start date
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I always give double red cells when I can. My hemoglobin averages about 17, so I have no trouble losing twice as many RBCs. Also, it lengthens the time between the red cross calling you from 8 to 16 weeks, just another bonus of donating double 
Recently had surgery and taking antibiotics, so I will be ineligible for my next donation date. Glad to see people here picking up the slack
Recently had surgery and taking antibiotics, so I will be ineligible for my next donation date. Glad to see people here picking up the slack Double Platelet with Plasma
With a 252 platelet count, I was able to give a double platelet with plasma. Add this to my May 4th donation.
Enjoy the video...and note the second stick (the first time, the bags were improperly setup and they had to replace the first set).
http://gallery.me.com/datavault#100065/IMG_0296&bgcolor=black
mike
With a 252 platelet count, I was able to give a double platelet with plasma. Add this to my May 4th donation.
Enjoy the video...and note the second stick (the first time, the bags were improperly setup and they had to replace the first set).
http://gallery.me.com/datavault#100065/IMG_0296&bgcolor=black
mike
Forgot to mention that mine was a blood donation, since there's no (B) next to my name on the list.
Congratulations for donating, congratulations for spreading the word, and welcome to MacRumors!
The 8-week rule is why this is a 2-month blood drive. It gives regular blood donors a chance to participate no matter when their 8 weeks are up.
Over here in the UK we are supposed to leave 16 weeks between normal donations (whole blood, around 470ml), though they can call you back after 12 weeks (and you can often schedule them slightly closer yourself too). Do you folks donate less at a session or just have more frequent donation timings?
Alec
Here in Finland we have to have 60 days between donations for men, 90 for women. So roughly 2 months/8 weeks for men and 3 months/12 weeks for women. And we give ~450 ml per donation. I guess it's actually weight they measure, but anyway. So it might be that UK is a bit different from others.
I asked about that when we were planning the drive but never got a definite answer. My assumption is that red cell apheresis (where you can give a "double" donation because the cells are filtered out) is more common in the UK. Anybody know?
I guess men vs. women is a rough guide to body size. Using weight might have been more accurate than setting a higher interval for women. Donor centers want to err on the side of safety and they don't seem to care about optimizing it precisely.
I'm glad the U.S. interval is 56 days instead of 60 days so we can make a habit of going on the same day of the week each time.
It's the same for us here, except that Americans don't understand the metric system (it's too complicated with all those powers of tenG4-power said:
) so we have to round it up to a pint!
I'm quite sure the longer interval for women is not because they generally weigh less than men, but because they also lose blood during their periods. Or it might be both. But usually it takes a little longer for women to get their haemoglobin level back up.
Recovering from donating blood is very individual, and factors in determining it are weight, diet, gender, age, exercise level and genetics, and so it would be very difficult to optimize it more precisely. The interval is a bit on the safe side, agreed, but I've had times when my haemoglobin levels didn't come back up to a normal level in 60 days, so I took a bit longer break and changed my diet so that I got more iron from food.
Yeah, it's not a big difference, but makes determining the next day a lot easier. The Finnish Red Cross Blood Service has a counter on their website, though, with which you can check your next available donation date, it'll even email you as a reminder.
It's the same for us here, except that Americans don't understand the metric system (it's too complicated with all those powers of ten
Heh, yeah, it's really difficult.
So it's a US pint, 473 ml, not Imperial, which is 568 ml. Just checking. This is OT, but it's funny that here we've used to SI measures (metric system), but now some beer companies have come up with a Imperial pint sized beer can (=5,68 dl). It's usually a whole lot more expensive than a half litre one, even though it has only 13,6% more content. Another "fun" thing is that it's quite difficult for people to let go of talking about engine power in horsepower, even though it should be measured in kilowatts. It can be difficult with hp(E), hp(S), and PS...
I'm off to give blood this Thursday, it will be my first time.
Going with a few other friends from school.
Hoping I don't pass out as some of my other friends have!
Going with a few other friends from school.
Hoping I don't pass out as some of my other friends have!
How did it go?I'm off to give blood this Thursday, it will be my first time.
Going with a few other friends from school.
Hoping I don't pass out as some of my other friends have!
With the donations by stridemat and bbarnhart we have reached a milestone: 30 Units of blood donated so far and over 10 units of platelets!
* * *
Since it's a holiday weekend in the U.S., people have extra time off from work. That makes it a good time to make a blood donation. Be sure to check what days and hours the donor center is open.
* * *
Since it's a holiday weekend in the U.S., people have extra time off from work. That makes it a good time to make a blood donation. Be sure to check what days and hours the donor center is open.
I would like to thank everyone who has participated so far.
Doctor Q and I have been keeping the honour roll updated. It is a gratifying thing to see that we have reached thirty donations of blood, and eleven platelet donations.
Keep up the good work, and lets try to go into the second month with all guns blazing!
Remember, the blood drive finishes on the 30th of June. Please try and give blood before then!
Doctor Q and I have been keeping the honour roll updated. It is a gratifying thing to see that we have reached thirty donations of blood, and eleven platelet donations.
Keep up the good work, and lets try to go into the second month with all guns blazing!
Remember, the blood drive finishes on the 30th of June. Please try and give blood before then!
