A new role
The Red Cross has called twice, and sent mail and email. They want me.
Well, they really want platelets from my blood; they say I’m an excellent candidate, my platelet count is very high. They’ve sold it hard; platelets have a five-day shelf life; people need them all the time and supplies are always low in the summer time.
I don’t know if my O+ blood makes any difference for platelets, but for years now, they’ve called and I’ve donated whole blood; pints of it; gallons, really.
I’m a pint or two away from that 6 gallon pin.
Apparently, platelet donations have a different pin series; but I hate to abandon my 6 gallon pin. Still. platelets can be donated 24 times a year. Huh. I dunno if I want to do it.
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Ok, that’s a facetious lie; I’m pretty thrilled, actually, that I seem to have an important role to play; people’s lives will depend on my platelets.
Public acknowledgment of my awesomeness would be totally appropriate.
(donations take two hours or so, and they have, they say, a current library of movies. I could catch up on my pop culture references)
*****
😀
Warning Comment
it’s ppl like you that save ppl like me that can’t give blood [take to many meds now and I pass out when they do] so thank you!
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it’s people like you and my daughter and son in law who give blood because people like me… i’ve had hepatitis… can’t give blood anymore that take up the slack and provide blood for those who need it. however you give… pints of blood or platelets… thank you. take care,
Warning Comment
Do it. You get to hang out and watch tv or a movie, and platelets are much more in need than whole blood – they have a 5-day shelf life. They also go to people with cancer, usually. O+ isn’t a universal donor for platelets – A, AB, and B are, oddly enough – but yours are still needed and it’s absolutely worth it to do it. You can still donate whole blood if you do platelets. Do it once and see how it goes.
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Also, I get calls from the Red Cross sometimes – platelets and plasma, they try to HLA-match first, and then blood type – there’s a cancer patient at UW Hospital that I’m a 5 or 6 point match for (6 point HLA match is perfect), and they call me to donate for that patient sometimes. It’s really cool knowing my platelets are being used, that they’re going straight over to the hospital. And I got a card after the last one that said, “your platelets went to patients at UW Hospital and Northwestern University Hospital,” and that was really, really cool. do eeeeet.
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good to contribute 🙂
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