How many donate blood..

… here? I received this in the mail today and pretty proud of it

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Congrats! I have a ways to go to catch up but am one donation shy of 4 gallons.

Keep up the good work. You’ll need to donate extra to make up for me. I’m not allowed, but wish I still could.

9 gallons is a lot of blood. Woah

That’s impressive!

One of my jobs is in education where there are annual blood drives. Even though I sign up whenever I see it coming each year, I think I have only ever received a 1 gallon pin?

I have O- blood, so should probably try a bit harder to help others. Thanks for the reminder!

buckybadger wrote:

That’s impressive!

One of my jobs is in education where there are annual blood drives. Even though I sign up whenever I see it coming each year, I think I have only ever received a 1 gallon pin?

I have O- blood, so should probably try a bit harder to help others. Thanks for the reminder!

thanks guys……i have O-neg. so its the blood they claim is most widely used.

its hard to miss a turn…….think i need to wait 112 days to do the power red…..they cant call that often then. and when its getting close to that time…..the phone calls texts and emails are relentless. i go directly to the red cross building in st cloud………ya less hassle then the local town blood drive!!! its one way to help!!!!!

I started donating whole blood when I was 16 years old and pretty much did so every three or so months until my youngest daughter fell ill with an auto-immune disease when she was in the 5th grade. Her immune system was totally shut down for three month while she was in the hospital and during that time I began the platelet [apheresis] donation which I did every two weeks right up until I had my stroke and was placed on blood thinners. The apheresis is a two hour draw where the platelets are stripped from the incoming whole blood in one needle, then the remaining blood components are mixed with a citric acid/saline solution and re-introduced to your blood stream with yet another needle. About half way thru the apheresis stint they changed from two needles to one with multiple holes/lines. I have o-neg blood and my platelets pretty much went straight to child oncology.

That o-neg blood is I believe the second rarest blood. So Glenn, we’re part of a rare breed.

Whole blood and blood component donation is a critical part of our health care system.

Jimmy……those machines are pretty regularly used when i go into donate.

i am also hooked up to some machine. i guess the power red is a process of taking red blood cells. it actually counts as a double donation compared to the normal donation. it takes a bit longer but you cant donate as often.

i used to get so thirsty after doing the normal donation, but with the power red they put fluids back in you so not near as thirsty.

Every 2 months. I think I am at about 6 gallons. Giving a unit of blood is a loss of 550 calories.

Its amazing what they can do with blood today. Blood thinners killed my donation endeavors. Keep up the good work guys. This is important stuff and one can never know when someone in the family or that you know well might fall in need of blood products..

Thank you to everyone who donates. A pretty simple process that helps/saves others.
I’m O+. They like me to do double red donation so that’s what I do. Can only donate those every 6 months. The one needle machine takes some blood out, takes out the red blood cells and returns everything else with some saline (I think). It takes 2-3 cycles to get the amount of red cells they need. I need to make another appointment, they’ve been calling.
I don’t know where I’m at in terms of total donated. Maybe I’ll check at my next donation.
I donate in memory of my wife who needed tons of blood products in her 12 1/2 year cancer fight, that she lossed.

Netguy…it sounds like you do the same donation I do???? isnt it called the power red??? i can donate every 112 days!!!! thats about every 3 1/2 months.

I donate at Memorial Blood Center and they call it double red. Red Cross calls it power red. Most recommendations are 112 days or 4 months. Mayo Clinic says 24 weeks so I do it twice a year.

Netguy wrote:

I donate at Memorial Blood Center and they call it double red. Red Cross calls it power red. Most recommendations are 112 days or 4 months. Mayo Clinic says 24 weeks so I do it twice a year.

13 gallons
Simple, painless and easy way to help others in need.

rvvrrat wrote:

13 gallons
Simple, painless and easy way to help others in need.

WOW. way impressive.

Here are a couple of my mementos from when I could donate. The pin is one of several.the red pullover was at the 20 gallon mark and the blue fleece was at 25.

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First of all I want to say THANK YOU to all of you who give blood. I myself have only done so one time. Even though I have a rather strong phobia of needles, I decided to give blood to impress a girl I liked who was working the blood drive. It turns out that you really don’t impress a girl if you end up with your head between you legs while breathing into a paper bag to prevent passing out

The apheresis was a much shorter lag time. I could have donated every 8 days but stretched it out a hair, but sometimes did every tenth day if there was a serious demand for o-neg stuff.

I saw plenty of people go almost into convulsions from the fear of needles while donating so you are not alone fish.

Jimmy Jones wrote:

Here are a couple of my mementos from when I could donate. The pin is one of several.the red pullover was at the 20 gallon mark and the blue fleece was at 25.

dang Jimmy….makes me look like a rookie!!!1 thats alot of blood.

i reckon those that got your blood gotz crappie on the brain now!!!!!!

Nice job guys!!! I got to 6 gallons before my gout diagnosis. They don’t want mine anymore. I don’t blame them. I wouldn’t wish gout on anyone.

Greg Krull wrote:

Nice job guys!!! I got to 6 gallons before my gout diagnosis. They don’t want mine anymore. I don’t blame them. I wouldn’t wish gout on anyone.

Where do you get it. I get it in my left big toe. Absolutely debilitating. I’ve had five episodes and hope I never see another one.

My arms and veins have taken a beating, especially with those four chambered apheresis needles. Towards the end it was getting hard to find a vein that wasn’t scared to heck and made getting a needle in tough some days. I wouldn’t trade the time spent in the blood center for anything in the world. I had some really great experiences in there. My only regret is that life caught up with me and the meds I take nix me from donating anymore.

Jimmy Jones wrote:

Where do you get it. I get it in my left big toe. Absolutely debilitating. I’ve had five episodes and hope I never see another one.

Last “event” was a couple weeks ago. Oddly on the outside of my foot by my little toe. It was the worst one yet. Probably have only had 4 “events” first three were the typical big toe joint. Hope to never have another.

0- Guy here I donate as often as I can. Also use to donate plasma that is a nice little money maker for little over an hour of time twice a week.