It has been difficult trying to find someone to take my blood. I had thought, perhaps mistakenly, the Red Cross didn’t want my blood. (But I’ve been mistaken about other things…such as my dad really did not work at the Brookfield Zoo in a gorilla suit…this is a great story….and thinking that you could fry dog food and it would just be just like hamburger…man am I glad my Ma didn’t catch me using her nice, non-stick skillet!)
At any rate the Red Cross has listed on their web-site that hemochromatosis was (and is) a disease in which affected persons are not allowed to donate.
So I stompled around rather peevishly and thinking rather obsessively: WHO WANTS TO TAKE MY BLOOD????”
Do you want my blood?
There’s nothing wrong with it. Hemochromatosis is a genetic disease…so you can’t catch it from me.
Say you were anemic…my blood sounds pretty good now…doesn’t it! (Sorry, I couldn’t resist.)
What if you needed an emergency transfusion?
At any rate I had the task of finding a phlebotomist somewhere in the proximity of the rural area where I live. And, go figure, I was finding that journey to be a little ominous. I swear half of the RN’s I have talked to recently really didn’t have a solid grasp what iron overload meant and why I needed a therapeutic phlebotomy. (This is not to diss nurses…it’s an amazingly difficult job with the added bonus of sneezy-whiny- sick people…I could NEVER do it…you RN guys ROCK…it’s just that hemochromatosis doesn’t seem to be in the mainstream of diseases people even medical people know a ton about.)
So when I called my general practicioner’s office for help there was one horrifying moment I truly believed that there was nothing they could do to help me with the bleeding. Up to this point all of my experiences with the peeps from that office culiminated into one assumption: HOLY COW they have no clue where to send me either. It would have been a veritable laugh-riot comedy of errors if it wasn’t so vital I was drained of some red stuff…You would probably have came to the same conclusion that I had if you talked to one gal who didn’t know the difference between a general (CBC) blood test and a phlebotomy, another who put you on hold and dropped the call, and yet another told you she’d call back and never did, and then yet another told you, “Oh, just call around to the local hospitals.”
Then Hayley the wonder nurse came on the line! She took charge, did a little research…and it turns out…doo, doodie doo…The Red Cross WILL take my blood if I have a MD’s order! (I’m guessing they discard it.)
GOD BLESS HAYLEY AND THE RED CROSS!
Whew.
PS…dog food fried in the pan is about one of the worst smells I have ever enountered! Don’t try it at home, trust me.
Did you really try to fry dog food? Wow. I’m in charge of dinner tonight.
There’s a national law that requires blood donors to be volunteers. If derive any benefit (including theraputic benefit) then you cannot donate. All will draw the blood but charge you for the effort and will throw the blood away. However, blood centers can file for an exemption to this law. If they show they can safely draw blood from those who must have blood drawn for hemochromatosis then they can get the exemption and then draw your blood and use if for transfusions. As your Hayley the wonder nurse about it. She should be able to tell you if the have or will file for the exemption.
Excellent, thanks for the information Bob! Keep the comments coming! I relish an open dialogue about hemochromatosis with the idea that people will be more aware of it and its effects.