Monday, January 2, 2012

37. Donate blood using the Apheresis machine


Ryan and I made it to the blood bank again.  This time we did a double red cell donation.  I have sat and watched many people get hooked up to the special machines and wondered how different it would be to donate using them.  It was actually pretty nice.  It only takes about 15 minutes longer to do it and you get double the reward that they are giving out. In our case that turned out to be $20 to Target.  Nothing fantastic, but it is a nice little perk.  Plus, you can only go ever 16 weeks between donations which makes me feel less guilty for not going more often.

Ryan didn't have this problem, but I felt like I was playing a video game the whole time.  They have this screen to try to keep track of progress.

The part on the left of the screen had to stay in the middle while it was drawing blood. I kept having to go between squeezing hard to get my pressure up to being still as the platelets and plasma were being reentered into my bloodstream.  It helped to pass the time.

The bonus at the end
I think this is going to be my new way of donating each time I go.  It is much more efficient and they really seem to appreciate the double donation.

22 goals down!

1 comment:

Mom said...

You keep introducing me to things I haven't heard about before. Thanks for the education, EP, and keep up the great work! Love, Mom