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If you don't need it, give it away!

I donated blood today for the first time, at the Red Cross centre in Perth. It was pretty much painless; the tiny stab-sample that Nicole took for testing hurt more than the needle proper, and it was all over (insertion to withdrawal) in under ten minutes.

In three months, I can do it again, and at that point I qualify to be hooked up to the fabulous platelet machine every 2-4 weeks. This draws a sample, centrifuges it, pulls out the platelets and plasma, and then puts the rest back in — so no loss of iron and so forth. Meanwhile, your heart will have been busy circulating stuff, so the next sample is almost 100% fresh.

If a fat old bugger like me can survive this, maybe you can too?

Judging by Jeff’s blog, he came within a whisker of needing some replacement circulatory fluid today — maybe you’re next? <G/D/R>

Comments

Leon RJ Brooks said…
Yeah, that'd be a good line (-: "Hey, my blood really harmonises with yours! Would you like to make even more beautiful music with other organs?"

The idea of having an organ partially sucked out, rinsed and replaced (platelet/serum processing) has a really squeamish sound to it, but it doesn't seem to feel all that bad. At least, BIL Jamie and mate-from-way-back Peter didn't seem to be having any issues with it.

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