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Blood donating ? be prepared.

Discussion in 'Dumaguete City' started by jellyfish, Mar 28, 2011.

  1. jellyfish

    jellyfish DI Forum Patron

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    Here my experience with a recent blood donation in a hospital in Dumaguete.
    It was exactly a year ago that I also offered there to donate after reading an urgent request on an internet forum.
    This time someone called me at around 3 PM if I was willing to donate since a person had to be urgently operated and my rare blood type was lacking. The man who called me was not someone from the hospital but someone knowing the patient.
    They needed at least 4 donors. I was number 3.
    They had found my celphonenumber in the hospital files (from my blood donation a year ago).
    One hour later,at 4 PM, I was in the hospital (have to drive about 27 km's).
    At 4:15 PM they took a blood sample for testing my blood.
    Only at 6 PM, after having urged several times employees at the laboratory to start taking my blood, a person came to question me (standard procedure) and to check my blood pressure.
    None of my answers gave reason for not going to take my blood, except my answers to the questions "when I had taken my last food ?" ("at lunchtime: 11:30 AM") and "did I drink alcohol ?" ("1 SMB at lunchtime").
    Now suddenly other people/doctors had to be contacted since it was not allowed to take my blood because of the bottle of SMB I did drink at lunch.
    At 7 PM I drove home again after some deliberations with nurses/doctors.
    I could not hide my angryness to the doctor when she told me that I should have known that I could not give blood coz I had taken a beer at lunch.
    I honestly even should not have realised that I had taken a beer at my lunch if that question was not raised in the list.
    I wanted to possitively react to the request to help a patient who needed urgently my blood-type so I came as fast as I could, finding out that after being 3 hours in the hospital they ask me to come back again 4 hours later (at 10 PM). All the time the patient has to wait !
    Of course I did come back (another 56 km up and down and a light 'dinner' at home) to help this patient who seriously needed to be operated.
    I am telling this story to warn people who are asked to urgently come to a hospital for blood donation: ask for first having that list being completed so no time is lost for taking next necessary steps in case the blood can not (immediately) be taken. The reason that the question list was only started after 2 hours was due to absence of the responsible person so another person had to come to take over.
    The respective hospital surely realises that they had not taken here the appropriate actions. I will not mention here any names.
    It is not my first time I have given blood but I had not realised, when saying "OK, I will come" that a lunch-beer could be a problem. Who thinks about that when an urgent request is made to donate ?
    But I hope I will do that a next time so relatives, looking and asking around for donors, can be prepared that certain blood can be (eventually 'timely') rejected.
    I hope to hear soon if the operation has been succesfull.
    The wife of the patient (an accident happened to him) welcomed me at the hospital with tears of gratitude in her eyes thanking me that I was willing to help her husband. Then you realise how important you can be for a completely unknown person. I hope it was not too late.
     
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  2. Knowdafish

    Knowdafish DI Forum Luminary

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    Good info! Thanks for posting it!
     
  3. PatO

    PatO DI Forum Luminary Highly Rated Poster Showcase Reviewer Veteran Marines

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    John, very humane of you, with all your own aches and pains, to make two trips to help a person in need. Cheers to you, hope you are recovering well yourself.
     
  4. expatron

    expatron DI Forum Patron

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    Wow thanks for the post, Score 1 for the good foreigners!
    Ron
     
  5. Jack Peterson

    Jack Peterson DI Forum Luminary Highly Rated Poster SC Connoisseur Veteran Air Force

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    Good Buddy!

    :smile:John! you never fail to amaze me, Good to have a friend like you. Take care my friend, I do hope your recovery continues.:smile::smile:


    Jack P.:wink:
     
  6. Happy She & Me

    Happy She & Me DI Member

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    Hello John.
    Please let me know if the blood type needed is "O negative" very rare and if it is still needed in the hospital. If I am a match I will be there in a new york minute. Donated twice last year. In 2008 when I was close to lose my life the blood type was the problem. Thanks to good people around I am still here and all OK. Please let me know.
    Thanks.

    Benjamin
     
  7. OP
    OP
    jellyfish

    jellyfish DI Forum Patron

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    Benjamin, the rare blood here was "A negative".
    Yes, I guess if you have experienced such a situation once for yourself you will never refuse to do it for someone else.
    It is a pitty that it seems to be so difficult to set up a reasonable bloodbank here.
    When my partner had to be operated here 2 years ago (a scheduled operation !) we only got the information after she already was installed in her bedroom, that we had to search ourself for a blood donor since they were "out of stock" (no joke !) of the normal blood type she had.
    It was already evening and the operation was scheduled in the morning.
    Via a fixer we could luckily still find someone that night who wanted to give blood for 'an agreed price'. so the operation did not have to be postponed.
    Btw.....I feel OK again Pat, Jack, ......although some of my bones will never feel the same anymore as before. I can hear them now when moving them and I can't say that it sounds normal :wink: but it's not serious.
     
  8. Happy She & Me

    Happy She & Me DI Member

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    The hospitals now know where to go for "O negative " if needed, and I hope they need it before my evening drink. I never drink any alcoholic beverage before 6 PM. Sorry I couldn't help this time. Thanks for letting me know.
    Hope everything went well for the person in need.

    Benjamin
     
  9. jimeve

    jimeve DI Forum Luminary Highly Rated Poster Showcase Reviewer Veteran Army

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    Extremely Humane of you, and good information. I already know this, take care of yourself and your wife.

    Jim.
     
  10. KTM

    KTM DI Senior Member

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    I know of 2 others in this province who are O-, besides me.
    I try to give blood every 3 months or so, besides helping others, it keeps the old blood pressure down a bit too.
     
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