Giving Blood

[Randy Winkman]

WarrenB said:

heisthegaffer said:

sagarich said:

Keep at it chaps, you’re all legends!

My 4 year old received 56 blood transfusions before he was operated on (all successful and no more required).

So grateful to you all

This is exactly why I donate. If your little lad can cope with all that, I can to. Donation number 10 recently.

We'll done on you lad mate and I hope all well now bless him.

As above.

I've got donation number 4 tomorrow.

Me too. Thanks for posting Sagarich.

[LunarOne]

I'm booked in for next Thursday.

[sagarich]

Thanks all. We've been massively humbled over the past 4 very dark years with the support from strangers across the country.

Genuinely appreciated!

On a side note, has anyone one on here volunteered at the donation centres? I want to give back and have made several attempts and numerous calls since July and they never amount to anything... which is frustrating as they're alway advertising for support.

[RC1807]

I went to give blood for the first time earlier this year at Luxembourg's Red Cross HQ. They'e always advertising for blood donors.
I found out I'm not allowed to donate blood in Luxembourg - because I eat meat and I Iived in the UK during the 'mad cow' times.
Very shortsighted of the local Red Cross, but they're following rules dictated by the Luxembourg Ministry of Health.

I'd love to help, but I can't.

[bigandclever]

RC1807 said:

Very shortsighted of the local Red Cross, but they're following rules dictated by the Luxembourg Ministry of Health.

It'll probably change, eventually, keep the faith The bigger boys have been removing their restrictions .. Canada, for example, lifted their 'ban' on 'people who lived in the UK, Ireland or France in the 80's and 90's' only this week. Australia and the US did it last year.

[madbadger]

sagarich said:

Thanks all. We've been massively humbled over the past 4 very dark years with the support from strangers across the country.

Genuinely appreciated!

On a side note, has anyone one on here volunteered at the donation centres? I want to give back and have made several attempts and numerous calls since July and they never amount to anything... which is frustrating as they're alway advertising for support.

I've done 120 donations and don't recall ever seeing volunteers in there with the staff.

Really good to hear where it is going. Thanks for posting.

[demic]

sagarich said:

Keep at it chaps, you’re all legends!

My 4 year old received 56 blood transfusions before he was operated on (all successful and no more required).

So grateful to you all

My last lot of platelets went to Gt Ormond Street. The text telling me hit me in a way I wasn’t quite expecting.

I owe my wife (stem cell transplant x2) and my son (IVF) to the NHS so it’s my way of giving back what I can. Stories like yours sagarich do make it all the more worthwhile.

[sagarich]

demic said:

sagarich said:

Keep at it chaps, you’re all legends!

My 4 year old received 56 blood transfusions before he was operated on (all successful and no more required).

So grateful to you all

My last lot of platelets went to Gt Ormond Street. The text telling me hit me in a way I wasn’t quite expecting.

I owe my wife (stem cell transplant x2) and my son (IVF) to the NHS so it’s my way of giving back what I can. Stories like yours sagarich do make it all the more worthwhile.

[BlindedByTheLights]

sagarich said:

Keep at it chaps, you’re all legends!

My 4 year old received 56 blood transfusions before he was operated on (all successful and no more required).

So grateful to you all

Great to hear! So you’ve inspired me to get back to it and I’ve made an appointment in January, my first in probably ten years.

[bigdom]

Countdown said:

Ok - so a little bit annoyed.....

I went for a donation today. The needle felt worse than usual going in, and it didn't help when the nurse had to call somebody else over to help her out

To date, I've never had an issue with a donation, in fact, after the plaster comes off, you'd struggle to see anything.

Contrast that to a different phlebotomist to my normal one at my doctors a few months ago, taking some for testing. It looked like my arm had been attacked with a baseball bat. Sometimes it just goes pear-shaped.

[Kiribati268]

Countdown said:

Ok - so a little bit annoyed.....

I went for a donation today. The needle felt worse than usual going in, and it didn't help when the nurse had to call somebody else over to help her out.

I have a strong feeling that the needle wasn't in properly. The blood ages to come out and ended up stopping before they got the full 470ml. Apparently this means that it gets thrown away. The reason it stopped flowing was because it had clotted

You would think that, since everybody attending is going to have a needle inserted, they'd be quite well practised at it. Not happy with spending 90 minutes having blood taken for it all to be wasted

And they didnt have any Seabrooks Cheese and Onion

It happens unfortunately. At least you managed to give some. About a year ago I went to donate and the nurse couldn't get the vein with the needle, he called a colleague over but neither could get it. I offered them to try the other arm but they are only allowed to try one arm once. So all in all a wasted trip, but these things happen I suppose.

My arm ended up bruising a bit bigger than a £2 coin where the needle went in for a few days after too.

[James72911]

Amazing to read.

My dad is now over 100 donations.

I have given a couple of times but felt so rough for days afterwards that I am hesitant to give more.

Anyone else suffer with light headedness, feeling faint? Or do I need to toughen up?!

[heisthegaffer]

James72911 said:

Amazing to read.

My dad is now over 100 donations.

I have given a couple of times but felt so rough for days afterwards that I am hesitant to give more.

Anyone else suffer with light headedness, feeling faint? Or do I need to toughen up?!

I have done occasionally.

I don't think you need to toughen up, clearly there is something up. Is it worth calling them and asking? Are you drinking plenty of water and eating lots of nutritious food hours before?

How big are you?

[WarrenB]

James72911 said:

Amazing to read.

My dad is now over 100 donations.

I have given a couple of times but felt so rough for days afterwards that I am hesitant to give more.

Anyone else suffer with light headedness, feeling faint? Or do I need to toughen up?!

I did do on my first donation, but it was a hot summers day and I don't think I'd drank enough.

For every donation since I've made sure I've eaten a lot of carby foods and drank at least a couple of litres of water/juice and I've felt completely fine afterwards.

[TimmyMallett]

67 for me (I'm 51) but I cheated a bit in my 40s by doing platelets when i lived near an apheresis unit (blood hospital) and they gave you more 'credits' for white blood cells.

I hate the sight of it and never look. If I do I start to feel really light headed. I generally get light headed standing up from having my head low and I don't have low blood pressure so I'm just careful when I get up out of the chair, let them know if you do feel funny.


The fact they ramped up the branded biscuits and crisps recently is the main draw for me I also love now knowing where it ends up.

Edited by TimmyMallett on Wednesday 13th December 12:24

[Peanut Gallery]

Funny one - I watch as they stick the needle in - my left foot twitches when they use my right arm - my right foot twitches when the needle goes into the left arm.

[sleepezy]

What happens if you squint...?

Back in Friday for me, a business trip to the US interrupted proceedings recently but back on track. My 17 year son has just donated his 4th too.

[NNH]

sleepezy said:

What happens if you squint...?

Back in Friday for me, a business trip to the US interrupted proceedings recently but back on track. My 17 year son has just donated his 4th too.

They might ask if you got Zika or West Nile, on past experience

[sleepezy]

NNH said:

They might ask if you got Zika or West Nile, on past experience

They do, I travelled to the US about 9 times last year so very used to the restrictions (US doesn't cause a problem, it's Singapore trips I need to be more careful of). I was physically in North Carolina when I last had an appointment booked, hence the disruption!

[LunarOne]

sleepezy said:

They do, I travelled to the US about 9 times last year so very used to the restrictions (US doesn't cause a problem, it's Singapore trips I need to be more careful of). I was physically in North Carolina when I last had an appointment booked, hence the disruption!

That's a trot of lips!

I have my 26th donation booked for this evening...