Here's a mini physiology lesson as to why you can donate often....
The half-life of a platelet is only 4-7 days compared to the half life of a Red Blood Cell which is about 3 months. So your body is constantly replenishing your platelets more often than your RBCs. Thats why you have to wait 8 weeks between donating whole blood where you can donate platelets three days later. Also, your spleen stores extra platelets, so when your count gets low it automatically have a backup. As the spleen is releasing the stored platelets it signals the bone marrow to make more and then excess will be stored in the spleen again for the next time there is a shortage.
After donating, platelets only have a shelf-life of five days, similar to the body. Patients usually require platelet transfusions because of an organ transplant, cancer treatment, surgery, or a variety of illnesses. These patients need someone to volunteer and pay it forward by donating. You are the solution when you donate.
We were told the process takes about 2-3 hours so we made our appointment in the morning before our 1pm synthesis class. We also made sure we had an am appointment because we get free breakfast from au bon pain. After getting the okay to donate (my BP was 110/70 and Hematacrit 42) we were hooked up to the machines. Now, Im not the biggest fan of donating blood, but I do it because it helps someone in great need. I actually get really anxious and nervous and almost pass out everytime (including today which I'll get to in a minute).
Nadine and I apparently have tiny veins which is a bigger deal when donating platelets because the blood is constantly getting pulled in and out of the body. They set up Nadine first and when it came time for the blood to filter back in, the machine errored saying it wasn't a good line. They tried to readjust the needle, but to no avail. Being the eagar soul that she is, she had them try the other arm. Meanwhile, Im sitting next to her going into panic mode. Round Two was a no go for her as well so she had to pretty much sit there and hope that at least one of us could donate today. When the lady came to get me started she made a remark, "Did you ladies both forget to bring your veins this morning." Great. I have one pretty good size vein, but it's deep. I was pretty sure that was the same one they went in when I donated whole blood so I gave her a go to try it. With a quick gouge she was in and then it was just a waiting game to see if the back flow would work on me.
Here's how the platelet donation works....
In the past, blood would go out of one arm and then put back into the other arm. Now there is just one needle that is hooked up to three lines: one for blood flowing in, one for blood flowing out and one for an anticoagulant. First the machine draws out your blood and the chamber in the middle fills up (its the part inbetween the circles in the picture). Once that chamber is full, the machine reverses and puts the blood back into your body using the other line. Some people feel a cool sensation, hence all the heating packs on my arm, but I was pretty much fine. I thought I felt a little pressure, but that could have been in my head. The machine does this cycle a few times before it starts pulling out the platelets and plasma. I thought I was scott free and then I started to get light headed. I don't know why, it's not like my fluid volume was changing at all, but then the other tell tale symptoms of a pass out came... blurred vision, fuzzy hearing, and I knew my face was pale without looking at it. The ladies at the center got me some ice packs for my neck, layed me back, took off my shoes and got me some juice. I was able to quickly recoup, but I was bummed that my nerves almost got the best of me again. Nadine, being the super friend that she is, made sure to distract me with study questions for the rest of the time. I think I was only about 20 minutes on my 70 minute donation when the incident happened. I was able to finish like a champ though and had a decent platelet count of 242 (normal range is 150-400). The bag with the yellow fluid is my donation. The yellow is plasma and the platelets were little swirls of white. My platelets were very swirly and they called them "happy platelets." When the whole process is said and done, they take about 1/3 of your platelets from you, but they never let you go below a platelet count of 100 so you're not at risk for bleeding. When we left we had a whold bunch of goodies... a long-sleeved tee shirt that said we were platelet donors, a pen, a meal voucher for the cafeteria and a free parking pass. Since Nadine couldn't donate she made another appointment and since it wasn't so bad I decided to double book with her. I have three weeks to mentally prepare myself for round two!
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