My doctor wasn't sure whether to phlebotomize me or not because my ferritin level wasn't alarmingly high. She decided not to when she checked my blood pressure, which was quite low. That reminded me to tell her that I'm on a new daily drug for my headaches, and it's a beta blocker which lowers your blood pressure. She said there's a good chance I'll actually pass out this time, and she didn't want to put me through that for not-too-high levels. So... we'll see in another six months.
Maybe she just knew I didn't have my kobo yet.
Oh, I thought of another reason for my kobo--reading while standing on the bus/metro. Hard to keep a book open with one hand. Yippy! My kobo! It wiiill be miiiine by the end of this week!
Anyway. Now I'm sittin' around, deciding whether to watch a documentary on the My Lai massacre, or Dynasty.
***
Look at this cute picture I found of how a phlebotomy decreases your iron level.
Okay now it's 2 AM, time to attempt the bed again.
4 comments:
What happens to the blood they remove? Is it donated in the usual manner? Fed to vampires? ... just wondering
I think some hospitals are finally trying to set up so they can donate it, but I believe it's generally tossed. I guess to re-use it you'd need to do all that screening they do at donation banks (as opposed to the doctor just rushing you down the hall, and getting you phlebotomized).
They can rarely use my blood at donation places, because they preload the bags with de-coagulant. And if they don't get a full bag of blood, then there isn't the right ratio of blood to de-coagulant, and they have to chuck it. And in my case, I start to pass out before the first bag is done. So I guess there are some technical details like that.
Here's a random quote I found, for example:
"For a year now, we've been using blood from the phlebotomies of hemochromatosis patients for transfusions. The patients are pleased to help others in this manner, and the practice has helped greatly in a time of blood shortage."
Vincent J. Felitti, MD
Southern California Kaiser Permanente,
San Diego, California
"Now I'm sittin' around, deciding whether to watch a documentary on the My Lai massacre, or Dynasty."
Ahahahaha... Only you would write a sentence like this.
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