It's A Gift To Be Healthy And An Honor To Give Blood
Lauren Grover
ON THE SCENE:
By LAUREN GROVER
Staff Writer
Give life.
Sound easy? I thought so, too, but failed at it just last week.
The mobile blood drive bus pulled up to our office, and like any good, little medical reporter, I bopped out the front door to do my part.
Health information, questions, heart rate, blood pressure, iron test - in 10 minutes I was prepped. And feeling courageous, I slid into the chair.
It wasn't long before my courage drained.
"Whoa," the nurse said, when upon first prick my blood splattered - her shirt, my shirt, the chair.
No worries, she said, a bit too much pressure, a minor setback.
No sweat, I thought.
As she and another nurse monkeyed with the needle (they seemingly found the vein and lost it), I focused like a mind reader on my breathing.
Inhale.
Exhale. Inhale.
Oh, look, a nice shrub outside.
Exhale.
Anything but the thought of a needle in my arm.
Anything.
Soon enough, blood was rapidly draining from my head.
It wasn't draining into the bag, either.
Where was it going?
Suddenly, the IV was out. The nurse broke an ice bag and pressed it to my forehead. My legs were propped up higher. Fingers were held up.
"We got 25 milliliters," she said.
Hmm, not bad, I thought. Sounds like a nice number.
"We collect 450 ml for a unit."
Oh.
As my cheeks returned to their pinky color, I calculated I had given about 10 drops, while another 20 had splattered on our shirts.
Not a lot of life-giving.
I thanked them, and took my juice and cookies like a defeated soldier.
Strange, but apparently my body didn't want to lose any blood.
The nurse said both my vein was not giving enough and my dizziness was a reaction to blood loss.
If my body only knew the good cause!
Blood is this amazing fluid packed with oxygen-carriers, mending platelets and clotting proteins.
And it's unparalleled.
Nothing has been found to substitute for blood. Created in your bone marrow, it supports life in a way that still boggles scientists.
And, there's a lot of it.
You have 10 liters coursing through 60,000 miles of arteries, veins and capillaries in your body.
But perhaps the most stellar fact is the unparalleled impact giving blood can have on another person.
Cancer, leukemia and sickle-cell disease patients - to name a few - require regular transfusions to stay alive.
Trauma patients have urgent blood needs and are given Type O upon initial arrival at the ER.
This is happening all the time, and right here in our town.
In East Texas, 200 units of blood must be collected every day to support the needs of our hospitals (30 facilities).
Donated blood can only be kept 45 days (although most is used just three days after donation).
Carter BloodCenter's Stewart Center is the primary blood provider here with six sites, daily blood drives and mobile van stops.
When you donate with Stewart, you're giving life to family members and neighbors.
And like blood, the need is a moving, changing thing.
"When people need blood, they can't wait," says Dr. Kevin Land, medical director for Carter BloodCenter in Dallas/Ft. Worth.
Land said blood must always be available, and since a donation can't be ready to use for two days, people should give now. Need could happen at any moment and at differing degrees.
But not everyone can give.
A recent study found that only 37 percent of the U.S. population is eligible to donate blood.
37 percent!
This makes it all the more important for us - who can - to donate on behalf of those who can't.
Not everyone can donate, but everyone benefits from available blood. Giving can be very personal.
Blood type matching is the only criteria for most recipients, but others, who have built up antibodies as a result of several transfusions, need a donor with similar genetic background.
Take sickle-cell disease patients, many of whom are black: many of them need blood from only black donors.
What a gift.
It's a gift to have healthy, sturdy bodies, and an honor to share blood. If you know one person who has leukemia, cancer or has received a transfusion, you'll know why.
As for me, I want to earn that juice and cookies.
I'm headed back to give my left arm a turn, and I'm hoping to work up to donating every 56 days.
Let's give life together.
Donate with me! Call the Carter BloodCenter's Stewart Center at 1 (800) 252-5584, or go to www.stewartblood.org.
Staff Writer
Give life.
Sound easy? I thought so, too, but failed at it just last week.
The mobile blood drive bus pulled up to our office, and like any good, little medical reporter, I bopped out the front door to do my part.
Health information, questions, heart rate, blood pressure, iron test - in 10 minutes I was prepped. And feeling courageous, I slid into the chair.
It wasn't long before my courage drained.
"Whoa," the nurse said, when upon first prick my blood splattered - her shirt, my shirt, the chair.
No worries, she said, a bit too much pressure, a minor setback.
No sweat, I thought.
As she and another nurse monkeyed with the needle (they seemingly found the vein and lost it), I focused like a mind reader on my breathing.
Inhale.
Exhale. Inhale.
Oh, look, a nice shrub outside.
Exhale.
Anything but the thought of a needle in my arm.
Anything.
Soon enough, blood was rapidly draining from my head.
It wasn't draining into the bag, either.
Where was it going?
Suddenly, the IV was out. The nurse broke an ice bag and pressed it to my forehead. My legs were propped up higher. Fingers were held up.
"We got 25 milliliters," she said.
Hmm, not bad, I thought. Sounds like a nice number.
"We collect 450 ml for a unit."
Oh.
As my cheeks returned to their pinky color, I calculated I had given about 10 drops, while another 20 had splattered on our shirts.
Not a lot of life-giving.
I thanked them, and took my juice and cookies like a defeated soldier.
Strange, but apparently my body didn't want to lose any blood.
The nurse said both my vein was not giving enough and my dizziness was a reaction to blood loss.
If my body only knew the good cause!
Blood is this amazing fluid packed with oxygen-carriers, mending platelets and clotting proteins.
And it's unparalleled.
Nothing has been found to substitute for blood. Created in your bone marrow, it supports life in a way that still boggles scientists.
And, there's a lot of it.
You have 10 liters coursing through 60,000 miles of arteries, veins and capillaries in your body.
But perhaps the most stellar fact is the unparalleled impact giving blood can have on another person.
Cancer, leukemia and sickle-cell disease patients - to name a few - require regular transfusions to stay alive.
Trauma patients have urgent blood needs and are given Type O upon initial arrival at the ER.
This is happening all the time, and right here in our town.
In East Texas, 200 units of blood must be collected every day to support the needs of our hospitals (30 facilities).
Donated blood can only be kept 45 days (although most is used just three days after donation).
Carter BloodCenter's Stewart Center is the primary blood provider here with six sites, daily blood drives and mobile van stops.
When you donate with Stewart, you're giving life to family members and neighbors.
And like blood, the need is a moving, changing thing.
"When people need blood, they can't wait," says Dr. Kevin Land, medical director for Carter BloodCenter in Dallas/Ft. Worth.
Land said blood must always be available, and since a donation can't be ready to use for two days, people should give now. Need could happen at any moment and at differing degrees.
But not everyone can give.
A recent study found that only 37 percent of the U.S. population is eligible to donate blood.
37 percent!
This makes it all the more important for us - who can - to donate on behalf of those who can't.
Not everyone can donate, but everyone benefits from available blood. Giving can be very personal.
Blood type matching is the only criteria for most recipients, but others, who have built up antibodies as a result of several transfusions, need a donor with similar genetic background.
Take sickle-cell disease patients, many of whom are black: many of them need blood from only black donors.
What a gift.
It's a gift to have healthy, sturdy bodies, and an honor to share blood. If you know one person who has leukemia, cancer or has received a transfusion, you'll know why.
As for me, I want to earn that juice and cookies.
I'm headed back to give my left arm a turn, and I'm hoping to work up to donating every 56 days.
Let's give life together.
Donate with me! Call the Carter BloodCenter's Stewart Center at 1 (800) 252-5584, or go to www.stewartblood.org.
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