FOLLOW-UP: Hey, so my sister made her donation last month (I didn’t go last month and she forgot to update me). Her hematocrit levels were great last time around and she was not deferred. It was almost at 39%.
daffyduck it looks like fluid retention was indeed the key. She hydrated normally, but this time made sure her platelet donation did not in anyway coincide the the time of the month during which she was most likely to be retaining water. She made no other efforts to modify her eating or drink habits (although I’m pretty sure she still takes a multi-vitamin daily).
All her appointments are scheudled in advance, so we’ll see next time if she continues to meet the hematocrit cut-off when she’s… um… at low tide.