Donating the platelets: They tell us to drink a lot of water and have a good meal before coming in. So the night before I drank a bottle and had some soup for dinner. The next morning I drink another bottle of water and some oatmeal hoping that was enough.....so we shall see.....
Jackie and I get to the donor center and sign in. I asked if I could donate both blood and platelets today, thinking the receptionist is going to say "no" but he said "yes". So thinking I could be efficient, I said, sure, take both from me today! So they call us in within 5 minutes and we find out we first have to have our blood tested to see if we CAN donate platelets. The tech checks my veins, I know that I have one good arm and one bad arm. After getting a second opinion, my good arm was approved and now all they had to do is draw a sample from the bad arm to test the blood. They couldn't use the good arm to test because that needed to be saved for the actual platelet and blood draw. So the first tech tries to find the vein, punctures the skin and then is in and moving it around trying to poke something that will give him a steady stream of blood. I'm looking the other way because I can tell he's up in there with the needle and no luck. You would think these people would be highly trained and used to finding the veins if they work in that department! So a second nurse tries and the same thing! She's up in my arm searching for the vein and then finally gets it! Whew! I really didn't want to have to go through that for nothing! I now have the healing bruises to show for it! This photo was taken 3 days later.....imagine what it looked like before!
So after that test, they sent us back out while we're waiting for the results. As we're sitting there, I start to freak out that I didn't eat enough. So I asked if I can grab something to eat because by this time, it's almost lunchtime and since I'm on a regular eating routine my stomach starts to growl. I grab a quick fish fillet at the McDonalds in the Hospital and hurry back. A couple of minutes later I'm called in, blood pressure is checked, quick run to the restroom (the 5th time that morning) and then they set me up on a bed. I look through a list of movies I get to watch while they are drawing the platelets and I choose the Devil Wears Prada. I've never seen it and everyone says it's good but at the same time I realize I'm going to be here for a while since they set up movies for everyone donating. I already knew that going in but it was still a little shocking. Anyways, so the new nurse goes into my good arm and finds the vein with no problems. I'm hooked up to the machine and the tube of blood that is coming from my arm is pretty thick. I checkout the machine and you can see the blood being filtered, kinda, pretty weird. Anyways, the nurse explains the procedure:
You are probably going to get cold since we are drawing blood from you so you can ask for as many blankets as you need. There will be a heating pad that will lay over your arm since that is the location where the blood is being drawn. You may feel a slight tingle in your lips, (something to do with calcium, too little I guess). They said if you feel the tingling to let them know and they will give you some tums to chew on and if that doesn't help then they can make adjustments to the machine. And lastly, don't bend my arm.
So I'm sitting there watching a movie and just relaxing as the machine sucks the blood out, separates it and then returns it to my body. The machine starts beeping, the tech comes over looks at it and pushes a few buttons and walks away. No big deal, but then this starts to happen every 15 minutes or so, I'm thinking, what's wrong? So then after the 6th-7th time, she comes over and says I'm going to tighten the turnaket a little and tells me to squeeze the foam toy in my hand ever so often. So I do so. That works and the machine stops beeping. I begin feel a little something in my teeth. I don't know if I should say something? How intense is the tingling supposed to be? I just let it pass. Finally, I start to feel it move up a little to my lips and decide to ask for some tums. So the tech gives me a cup with 5 tums and says if that doesn't help, to tell him and he will adjust the machine. So I take a tums and it seems to lessen the tingling. I do take one right after the other because as soon I as I finish one, the tingling returns. When I'm done with the cup, I just say, oh well, suck it up Jane! I asked the tech how much longer I have because I noticed that the woman sitting next to me is done and she started after I did. It must be because I'm donating both blood and platelets I thought. Well the tech told me I had less than 10 minutes so I was glad I was almost done. The movie was now over and I just stared off into nowhere.
But here's where everything took a wrong turn for the worse. I laid there, deep in thought and I noticed that the tech was staring at me, I didn't think anything of it. A few minutes later, my stomach begins to feel weird. The tingling begins to creep up my face and is up around my nose. I ask for water and the tech says sure and asks me, "are you ok?" I replied, "I'm feeling kinda nauseous." He then calls a nurse and says "we're having a reaction." I being to panic a little but I was already nauseous so it was all mental. The nurse comes over and says, "she only has a few more minutes left", then she asks me if I can keep going because they need a minimum of 256cc for the blood donation to make it count and I was at 236cc. I told them I was feeling really sick and they cut the cord. They immediately tilt the bed so my head is down and my feet are raised, put a cold towel over my head and neck, and take my blood pressure. The tech told me, "I noticed you looking sick but you didn't say anything, and then when I asked you if you were alright, you immediately turn pale!" So I sat there, sipping water, having my blood pressure taken every 5 minutes and then was finally told that my color is back and to slowly rise. I left a little weak and completely exhausted. Luckily we had planned to visit Justine afterwards so I was able to sit and relax for a while.
We visited Justine and she wasn't feeling too well. She was nauseous, hadn't really eaten because she can't open her mouth too wide. She has an infection in her jaw from the chemo and they are giving her antibiotics to help. The good thing was we were able to talk to her and she still has her sense of humor and was laughing at our stupid jokes. Jackie brought her a cute Easter box filled with candy and some hair supplies I told her to get. I got her a bag of flaming hot cheetos and a pair of chopsticks to eat them with. I also made a CD with some songs I thought she would like. She's really into music so I downloaded the new BEP and Justin/Ciara songs for her. I didn't have time to go through all of my songs so I ended up just giving her what I've recently downloaded, which were mostly the AI songs which I'm not sure she's going to like....haha We had to leave early because our mom called saying she was sick so we had to go and check on her. After leaving and helping out my mom, I was completely wiped out. I canceled plans with the girls and needed to rest up for the weekend with the kids.
In the end, it was worth it. It turned out that they were able to use the bag of blood I donated because it was "close enough"! If Justine is still in the hospital next week, I plan on coming back and donating again, this time, only platelets.....the combination of the two is what got me in trouble. Plus, I'm A+ and Justine is O+. I was there last Wednesday and witnessed why she needs the platelets so the little tingling and exhaustion I got was nothing compared to that. It's my fault anyways, I just needed to drink MORE water, so the tech says.....
