(If blood makes you squeamish, there will be descriptions of and an image of blood donation later on in this blog. You have been warned!)
Recently, I read an article on the current shortage of blood donations we’re experiencing here in the U.S. (Here it is!). I haven’t donated blood since nursing school (for a somewhat good reason I’ll get into in a bit), but I decided it’s time. We have patients who frequently require blood transfusions due to the effects of their cancer, chemotherapies, and surgeries, and the blood they might need requires willing donors. I was willing, so I took a deep breath and went for it.
Now, I will say, there are a few reason why I haven’t given blood in recent years. I’ve been pregnant and breastfeeding for a significant amount of that time, I did have one needlestick injury (don’t worry, I did all the testing required) but that meant no blood donations for a little bit, and… the last time I gave blood, I was in nursing school and I passed out! Granted, I was surviving on mostly coffee, ibuprofen, and not enough water, so my body probably wasn’t all that prepped to give away any resources. I remember feeling a little funny and fuzzy around the edges, putting my head in my hand, then waking up with ice packs around my neck and a nice staff lady with glasses looking down at me. I also remember she laughed because I then said, “well this is new.”
I had given blood a few times prior to that, with little ill effect outside of some mild light-headedness, so I decided to give it another go. I took a look around my area for a few of the large blood donation companies, e.g. Red Cross, Vitalant, Vesiti. There was Vitalant about 10 minutes away, which was perfect.
Registering on the website was relatively easy. And, due to the blood shortage, anyone donating blood or blood products for the month of January has a chance to win a pre-paid $5,000 gift card! Four lucky winners possible! Woot! (I believe Red Cross is doing something similar). Registration involved going on the website (vitalant.org), and signing up for a log-in. You would give your name, email address, some very basic data, along with a questionnaire to see if you are eligible to donate blood. Vitalant also sent me an additional link for a longer, more in-depth survey to fill out on the day of the donation, which included 50 questions about health history, many of them screening out for risk factors for HIV/AIDS, sexually transmitted infections (STI’s), and other infectious diseases and medical conditions that might affect blood donation eligibility. I was able to finish this in a little less than 10 minutes. In addition to the self-reported survey, each donor has a sample of the blood they donate tested for their blood types and for possible STI’s or infectious agents.
A few thing they suggest prior to blood donation is to eat something healthy within 2 hours prior to the donation, drink some water or a sports drink beforehand, and to have a snack or meal that’s “on the salty side” the day before in order to prevent too sudden a drop in blood pressure. I barely remember my pathophysiology, but there’s a reason why a patient gets a saline IV solution to rehydrate, rather than straight water. So… I ate almost an entire bag of buttered popcorn by myself the night before (… you are absolutely right to judge me, I’ll make better choices, thank you).
On the morning of donation, I ate a breakfast sandwich I’d made, drank a very large glass of water, and headed on over to the Vitalant. I signed in, then waited in an intake room, where I sat for a few minutes before someone came in to register me fully into their system and asked some additional screening questions. Due to Covid, all staff and donors were masked and they asked me a few Covid screening questions. Because I’d filled out the 50 item health history questionnaire prior to coming in, they scanned me in via a QR code that Vitalant emailed To me. I then headed to my “Salon Chair”, as a friend of mine called it.
As I sat in the chair, the technician who would be drawing my blood used a blood pressure cuff to apply pressure to my upper arm, and gave me a glove-covered stress-ball that I would be squeezing every 5-10 seconds during the donation and while she inserted the needle. As she’s doing this, she asks me a few additional questions, at which point I disclosed my history regarding blood donations. So, she was aware I had passed out previous and I agreed to let her know if I felt like that might happen again.
At this point, she used a large swab with a sterilizing solution to scrub the crook of my arm where she’d be inserting a needle that would remain in my arm as the blood came out. You can’t see it in the following picture, but if you’re squeamish about getting poked and looking at needles, either don’t look at it when it goes in, or you might want to decline doing something like this. Quick initial pinch, and some lingering, minor pain as the needle remained in.
There is a point during this process where she takes a few tubes of blood for blood tests that are standard for any donation. One of the nice things about Vitalant, I must say, is that you create a login, and when the testing is done, your results are posted in the “Wellness” section of your account.
I will also say, during the donation process (can I say out-fusion?), I did feel a little lightheaded, but it wasn’t the prickly, black-out-edges-of-vision sense I remember from the last incident. Occasionally, I would tighten my leg and glute muscles and periodically take deep breaths to keep my blood moving, maintain my blood pressure, and hopefully prevent additional lightheadedness. I also noticed afterwards that my feet felt cold, but it’s freezing outside, so that might just have been incidental.
One thing that I had forgotten was that there isn’t a machine that “pulls” out my blood like an IV pump, it’s just a bag attached to me that is hooked up to a small machine that slowly rocks the bag back and forth to prevent coagulation. The blood comes out via gravity. So I’m actually “bleeding” quite quickly, as, once I was hooked up, it only took about 7 minutes to pull it all out. When I asked the technician (nurse?), she said being hydrated helps to speed up the process. Now, platelet, plasma, and other donations can take a much longer time.. Based on their website, these range from 30 minutes to 2 hours, as they require additional technology to pull out what they need (i.e. platelets or plasma) and then give you back what they don’t need.
Afterwards, she put on a pressure dressing (she had to put it on a second time as I started to bleed through the first), and I went to the famous snack corner blood donations centers are known for, where I snagged a bag of kettle corn and some Oreos and sat down with a bottle of water to rehydrate. They gave me some basic “discharge” instructions on a piece of paper before I left. She also informed me not to lift anything heavy if I wanted to avoided bleeding from the donation site and prevent bruising. There were also some suggestions for what to do for the rest of the day, and what to do if I started to feel lightheaded. All super helpful.
Now that it’s been a few days since, I’m feeling quite fine and mostly back to normal, outside a bit of fatigue. The evening of and day after, I had to remember to take it easy, hydrate, and eat well (which I only remembered because I started to feel crummy and realized I hadn’t eaten or drunk enough during the day). Some hot, salty, spicy soup and several glasses of water later, I started to feel more myself. Red blood cell donations require a waiting period of at least 8 weeks between sessions because it can take that much time for you to replenish what you’ve lost.
Reflections:
One of the pastors at our church recently gave a sermon on what it takes to change the world. It’s a very broad, very idealistic concept, but one thing that struck me is a quote he gave from a prominent pastor in the U. S. ;
“Do for one what you wish you could do for everyone.”
Andy Stanley
This quote struck me because sometimes, I get so overwhelmed with all of the needs around me. My husband and I want to foster or adopt eventually, but we can’t take in every kid with a need. I have no idea how to solve world hunger. I can’t cure cancer. BUT. I can focus on the few things I can do. I can give blood so that 1-3 people could get a possibly life-saving treatment. I can sit and have a conversation with a patient going through a hard time. I can buy an extra few cans of food for my local food pantry. I can take a few minutes to do research on the needs and injustices happening in my community and how I can help. I can send a text or grab a coffee with someone who has been on my mind. These don’t take too much time out of my day. I don’t have to be everything for everyone. Jesus had disciples, knowing that they would be making differences one person, one event at a time, and eventually spreading throughout the world. So, rather than being overwhelmed with all of the needs, what are things that I could do for just one person?
The call to live compassionate, giving lives is a serious one in scripture, very much build in to the way God called his people to live (check out Matt. 25:31-46, James 1:27, Ex. 22:22-24, Prov. 19:17, Deut. 14:29). However, the heaviness of the call does not mean it requires a heavy amount of work all of the time. I think sometimes I get intimidated by all the theological and philosophical ideals surrounding the why’s and wherefore’s of how to do things. Although I do believe there are and will be times where we might have to do some deep contemplation and research on particular ministries of compassion and justice, the people of God had patterns and practices put in place so that they could be reminded to do this regularly and constantly. Similarly, putting acts of compassion, mercy, and justice into action in our lives does not always require hours or days of planning. Rather, we can start by doing for one what we might want to do for many and making it a habit and practice in our lives to do even the small things that might bring the peace and love of Christ in to the lives of other people.
Resources:
If you’re curious about how and where to donate blood, check out these resources. These are not definitive or completely comprehensive by any means, but they do have some good basic information.
https://www.redcross.org/give-blood.html
https://www.aabb.org/for-donors-patients/give-blood
If you’ve had any experience giving blood or have any questions regarding the process, please feel free to leave a comment! I’d love to hear from you!