YAY VAMPIRISM FOR CHARITY!!!

[naamah_darling]

Went in to the Red Cross today trying for my record-breaking third straight deferral, only to be told that I do in fact have enough hit points to donate. Which is good. I'm a six hit-die monster, after all

Comments

[phoenixprime]

My veins are very similar. Ask them to use a butterfly when you donate. It solves the problem, and works well.

[sarapada]

I second the butterfly needle - it's the only way to get blood out of my (direct quote from a nurse) "thin and spindly veins".

[apocalypticbob]

I third it, and as a certified phlebotomist and someone with ultra crappy veins, I try to have them used on me every chance I get.

However, be aware that not all labs stock them. They are more expensive than your standard vaccutainer needle or the needles used for Red Cross. I don't know the Red Cross protocol on butterfly needles, but for regular lab work, a butterfly in the back of the hand is the best bet for me.

[phoenixprime]

I've actually had to have a lab send me to a different lab - they couldn't get blood out of me with standard needles. My veins like to collapse...

[illian]

Good for you! *pats the Naamah*

I just gave blood on Monday, which was

. . . this isn't because the Red Cross turns down too many people or because their rules are too strict, it's because eligible people are not donating.

True, but the fact they ask "Have you ever had sexual contact with another man/woman?" and will turn you down if the answer is yes, just pisses me off (and by all reports a number of other people).

[illian]

Er, which was my second time this year (8 weeks from the previous time).

[pixxelpuss]

I certainly resent the hell out of it. Especially since it doesn't excuse me from guilt-inducing pleas every five damn seconds. I wouldn't argue that the shortage is due to eligible people who don't donate, but I sure think it might help if they didn't say "homos need not apply".

[naamah_darling]

Pisses me off, too. They never ask women about women, though, not at my center. It's odd.

[rkledgerwood]

. . . and yet they turned me away the last four times I tried to give blood in 98-00, despite having a relatively rare type A negative, for marginally high BP. In 2001, when I tried to donate with my new lower BP, they turned me away during the questionairre. Apparently, I can never donate blood to US recipients because I've lived with the unclean and mixed fluids with those horrible European and Pacific Islander types . . . .

[willowsidhe]

I wish I could donate. My father does it all the time. I am permanently DQ'd thanks to some angry bovines in europe. :(

[hugh_mannity]

Me too -- damn those bovines with their Napoleon complexes and paranoid delusions about abbatoirs!

[hugh_mannity]

They did let me donate for myself prior to my knee surgery, which was good. If you're having any sort of elective surgery, it's a good idea to donate for yourself in advance.

I wish I could donate though, I have horribly high hemoglobin and donating would be good for me.

[siamesegoth2]

I'm shit scraed of needles, the kind of fear that has you in the feotal position, and rocking back and forth. but i bullied myself into going a year ago.

Hubby and i sat there, waited an hour did all that was asked, and then came the big crunch. It says here you lived in the Uk , how long. i said all my life, hubby told his doc 10 years. We instantly got told that we cannot EVER, give blood in france. Apparently they fear the whole mad cow disease thing. * with good reason i suppose*

But damn it, i have healthy blood, lots of it, and it's there for the taking, but because i indulged in beefy goodness, they dont want it.

[pixxelpuss]

I don't think they should bully people with needle-phobia into giving anyway, since if you look it up in the DSM you'll find that it's pretty much the only phobia that you can die from.

[siamesegoth2]

ohh, i bullied myself into going. took some doing though XD.

I was determined to give blood, my husband needed a shit load of it as a teen, and the shortage was worse then, so we both wanted to help in anway way we could. even if i am a pussy when it comes to needles.

Dind'nt realise i could die from the phobia though. thats going to make it harder going for any kind of shot or test.

[naamah_darling]

FOR REAL!?

AIEEE!!!