Giving Blood. Modern day.

[John Landon]

Years ago, I gave blood once or twice, and have not bothered since, as usually the donation centrer's are too far away from where I live, so cant really go after work.

Anyhow, when wandering down Dale Street here in Liverpool to visit that high class purveyor of meat and potato pies, Sayers, I noticed a centre close to where I work, there so went in to enquire.

That was about 18 months ago, and I signed up and now give blood every 3 months on the dot. That is the minimum time you are allowed between donations.
I am due in again next Wednesday to donate another "armful" according to Tony Hancock.

Now that modern technology is involved, its really easy and convenient now. You get a text on your phone informing you when you are eligible to give blood again, and then they will supplya list of dates, and booking a convenient appointment takes seconds..
Plus you get so to find out what happened to your particular armful of blood. Yhey even tell you which hospital it went to by text message. They will tell you beforehand what your blood is going to be used for, so if you have an objection you do not have to give.
its not just blood supply anymore, although most of my donations have gone to that cause, they will also use it to extract plasma, and even use it to extract certain elements that are used to make specialised eye drops for certain cancer patients..

I never suffer any ill effects afterwards, but no positive ones either, I wondered if this Blood Letting malarkey that has been in practice for 3000 years had any substance to it ? But nothing I have noticed...
I do get benefits, so its a symbiotic relationship.. lots of Free cool water, then a cup of coffee, biscuits and snacks, plus they screen my blood, so they would inform me if there were any serious health issues.

[HEPZIBAH]

I first gave blood when I was twenty one and gave it regularly twice a year. I had to stop for a while after I first visited West Africa but resumed as soon as I could. I then had to face some major surgery and looked into the posibility of donating my own blood, for my own use, if needed. I understood that it can be arranged ( they just don't like doing it). As it was, I was informed that the particular surgery seldom carried the risk of bleeding out or any other reason for an infusion, and that I wasn't in good enough condition to give blood anyway. So, yet again I had wait a while until I was considered suitable to donate again.

Three years ago I had to have emergency surgery. I don't think I was given blood or blood products during surgery but I do remember having four units given me in the days that followed. I've no way of thanking those doners but I will always be thankful for the part they played in giving me back my health.

[Major Thom]

Yes Hepzi they do get a lot of flack but at the end of the day when they are needed they are there.

[Brian Yare]

Back in the day, we would get a Guinness after donating. But that was in a University City in Scotland.

[John Landon]

Well, I just donated another armful just now, and I didnt even have time for the complimentary snacks and drinks, as I had an engineer waiting back at work...
he turned up an hour early, so not my fault..

Some interesting questions you have to answer these days. So I have to mention each country I have been to in the last 3 months, usually they are ones considered as safe, so its OK.

have I had a tattoo recently ? you must be kidding, Pain and me are not exactly bussom buddies.
Have I injected drugs ? of course not, I am not stupid enough to bypass the safety nets available when orally or nasally ingesting them !
Have I had unprotected sex or oral sex with a man ? Oh come on ! I may like rainbows, but its not my fault the gays nicked them..

one in particular stood out.

Have I been paid or given drugs to have sex ?

I can get paid in cash or drugs to have sex ?? Why do I not know about this !

When I first signed up a couple of years ago, I did mention I was partial to Mary Jane, and asked if that was a problem, as they may find "traces" in my bloodsteam if they checked.
and by "traces" i meant "considerably high volumes" as I do sometimes have what Howard Marks would have considered as "heroic amounts" in a single sitting.
That was not a problem to them though. having said that, Me and Mother Mary have not been seen in each others company for a very long time.


Anyway, all was good, I got my pint out in under 5 mins, and was on my merry way 2 minutes later to meet up with the engineer... After I had a ciggie of course...

[LovelyLadyLux]

Re: Middle Aged Men and Blood donation......

Donation of blood is associated with reduced risk of myocardial infarction. The Kuopio Ischaemic Heart Disease Risk Factor Study.
Salonen JT1, Tuomainen TP, Salonen R, Lakka TA, Nyyssönen K.
Author information
Abstract

Because high body iron stores have been suggested as a risk factor for acute myocardial infarction, donation of blood could theoretically reduce the risk by lowering body iron stores. For this reason, the authors tested the hypothesis that voluntary blood donation is associated with reduced risk of acute myocardial infarction in a prospective epidemiologic follow-up study in men from eastern Finland. The subjects are all participants of the Kuopio Ischaemic Heart Disease Risk Factor Study. A cohort of 2,862 men aged 42-60 years were followed for an average of almost 9 years. One man (0.7%) out of 153 men who had donated blood in 24 months preceding the baseline examination experienced an acute myocardial infarction during 1984 to 1995, whereas 316 men (12.5%) of 2,529 non-blood donors had an acute myocardial infarction (p < 0.0001 for difference between proportions). In a Cox proportional hazards model adjusting for age, examination years and all other predictive coronary disease risk factors, blood donors had a 88% reduced risk (relative hazard = 0.12, 95% confidence interval 0.02-0.86, p = 0.035) of acute myocardial infarction, compared with non-blood donors. These findings suggest that frequent blood loss through voluntary blood donations may be associated with a reduced risk of acute myocardial infarction in middle-aged men.

[John Landon]

See a Symbiotic relationship, as is all life on many levels...

despite having a Doctor as a father, Nurse as a mother and wife, I had to look up what myocardial infarction was..

Heart Attack...

Ah well, that knocks off one possibility for me shedding my mortal coil in ( if history does repeats itself ) 9 years time..

I also realised that the pints of Guinness handed out in the old days, as recounted by Brian Yare, was because it is allegedly high in Iron..

[newcastle]

The statistical evidence that blood donation may improve your survival chances by lessening the risk of heart attack is pretty skimpy.

However, there's no doubt whatsoever that it improves enormously the prospects of any recipients of your largesse

Just saying.......

[LovelyLadyLux]

Hemochromatosis

[John Landon]

Hemochromatosis

Maybe this is why I like heavy Metal music so much

\m/

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