I’m scheduled to donate platelets this afternoon. I’ve been doing it for a few years now. I’m tired of donating platelets. My concience is at war with the rest of me.
Plusses:
[ul]
[li]I love knowing that I’m helping to save lives. This is the BIG BIG plus.[/li][li]It’s nice to cut out of work early to go do this every few weeks.[/li][li]I enjoy the staff at the clinic. They’re great people.[/li][/ul]
Minuses:
[ul]
[li]I have to cut out of work early every few weeks (which can be a pain to plan around.)[/li][li]It hurts. Not constantly, and not unbearably, but for several minutes while it’s getting started, then again when they take out the needles.[/li][li]It’s ~1.5 to 2 hours of sitting very still, without being able to so much as scratch your nose (I do double-needle because it’s faster.)[/li][/ul]
Now, I’ve been thinking about it. I’m up to around 8 gallons donated now. It’s the end/beginning of the year. Would I be a terrible person if I took a break from platelets for a while? Maybe a year or so? I’d still donate whole blood every eight weeks–I wouldn’t stop donating completely.
What say you, Dopers? What would you do in my shoes?
Your body your choice. Try taking a break and see how you feel about it then. Do what feels right to you. And kudos for all the donating you’ve been doing.
I have donated 13 gallons and my doctor made me stop (he said I could do it twice a year as a “token”:dubious:). I wish I could do it again. I feel guilty not doing it because I have peculiar combination of blood type/antibodies and they really love to see me coming through the door. But if your blood is a standard type and not a true rarity, can you ask that they call you only in a true emergency? I am on the list for transplants and pediatrics and they call me every so often, but they know I can’t give on a regular basis so the telemarketers don’t have my number.
I would go ahead and take a break, or cut back on your schedule a bit. I used to donate platelets about once a month, then like you, I got “donor’s fatigue” and just didn’t want to anymore. I cut back to every other month and that helped it feel less burdensome. I’m back up to once a month again.
Also, talk to your clinic. There are newer, faster machines out now, so even with a single needle my skinny, little whip of a cousin only has to sit there for 75 minutes, rather than 2hrs+, and has a free arm. On the new machine, I’m sometimes hooked up for less than an hour (but I’m a guy and have more juice than the aforementioned skinny, little whip). The clinic probably can’t do much right away, but in response to queries here, they got faster machines and also some evening hours for people who can ONLY come in after work, like the skinny whip.
You can probably also arrange it so you take time off, but are still on the stand-by list, so that if you’re someone’s match and it’s urgent, they can still call you. This happened with a buddy of mine who took time off. They called him for a critical patient he matched.
Donor fatigue is not uncommon. Take a break and don’t feel bad.
I work at a hospital, and I wanted to say that it’s a wonderful, selfless thing that you’re doing. Kudos to you. That said, your body should be at its best and you don’t want to abuse your system, because then your sacrifice might become pointless. Rest if you have to. No one will think less of you for it, and thanks for thinking of others.
I say take a break and thank you-my life was saved last year because I received 10 pints of blood and I don’t know how many additional units of platelets.
What blood type are you? I go every 8 weeks, and about every other time they say they have no need for my boring old A+ double red and ask that I donate whole instead.
I recently went because it was in the same building and right after my shift at work… The last time I went was five years ago. I plan on going to donate when it fits my work schedule (I can’t do the work I do if I donate before my shift, but after is usually just fine). They set it up so that its at least once a month most times.
For you, though, its ok to take a break… Or just go less often. I didn’t feel any worse about donating after a huge break of years, I felt great about doing it again. And I’ll do it again sometime soon… But it doesn’t have to be like clockwork every minimum number of weeks they allow. Just go when you feel like it and don’t beat yourself up for not going the day they will allow you back. You’re doing so much more than anyone else out there… They’ll still need you but they don’t want you to get burned out doing it constantly and not come back ever.
Take it from a mom: if you get burned out, you’ll stop being useful to other people. Better you take a break and go back to it in 6 months or a year than you keep doing it another two months, snap, and never go back again.
Heck, every 16 weeks is better than never again.
Take care of yourself so you can take care of others in turn. It’s like the oxygen mask instructions on an airplane: those traveling with small children should put their own masks on first before assisting other passengers. Why? 'Cause if you pass out, then *neither *of you have a mask on.
I’d take a break, Trouble. I’m a monthly donor (and I saw Sunspace there once!), I could go every two weeks, but I don’t. I don’t because it would be too much for me. If it’s becoming a chore you may be going too often for your own psyche.
I’m a very dedicated donor and as pro-donation as you’re likely to find, but there have been a few times that I really, really didn’t want to go. I didn’t want the pinprick, I didn’t want to feel all buzzy from the anti-coagulant, and there are tons of other small, silly reasons, that I just Didn’t. Want. To. Go. It used to bother me that the reasons I really didn’t want to go seemed to be so petty and trivial, yet the little things just wore me down. It would be like going to the dentist to get your teeth cleaned every few weeks. It’s a good thing, the discomfort is so minimal, but the process, just isn’t fun. No matter how you slice it. Many times I’ve been happy to be deferred for 56 days due to a less than optimal hematocrit.
Sometimes I wouldn’t want to go, but I’d feel fine once I was there. Or I wouldn’t want to go, and I’d suck it up, telling myself “Well, a leukemia patient has to sit through worse, more regularly, and doesn’t have the choice. What excuse do I have?” and I would feel about it okay by the time my donation movie started. But if you are actively hating it while you are there, you should be going less often, or take a donor holiday. Even Superman has his Fortress of Solitude so he can take a break every once in awhile.
They’ll have you on record as a healthy donor, so if there is an urgent need or an emergency they will contact you. Maybe it would work better for you if you had a “donation season.” Like winter is badminton season, spring is platelet season, summer is baseball season!
You and I started donating on the same day, as I recall. I’m so glad to see you in this thread.
You’re all right–I am just feeling guilty. But I walked out today without making an appointment. I’m going to play it by ear. Thank you for your support and the kick in the common-sense you’ve all given me.
No. (At least not in Canada). Your reward is knowing you’ve helped save lives, and the occasional swag or donor-only contest. For example, a couple years ago, platelet donors and their immediate families could enter an online raffle to try and win an MP3 player.
I’ve always enjoyed the process as “forced relaxation”. My partner and I are always on the run, and sitting still for 2 hours and watching a movie on a personal DVD player made me slow down for at least one evening. I wrote about my very first platelet donation way back when I still used LJ. I believe I had been inspired to donate by dantheman, who I think was a Doper in the days of yore.
Whole blood has a shelf life of about 45 days, while platelets must be used in 5. In my region, they must have 32 donors a day or there could be a critical shortage. I am fit, healthy, and my blood type is a helpful one. I consider it a not-unpleasant social duty to my fellow human beings to only give up one hour and a half a month. It’s something I do in lieu of volunteering because I can schedule it into my life a lot easier than I could commit to other volunteering options. The discomfort is minimal. You don’t lose any blood volume, so unlike donating whole blood, you don’t feel whoozy afterwards. Although I must confess, that wielding a hammer immediately after a donation resulted in a bashed finger recently.
The needle prick isn’t a big deal, but sitting still that long is no particularly comfortable. I would say the level of discomfort would be comparable to taking a Greyhound bus when you know you are going to feel mildly motion sick. It’s not enough to dissuade you form the necessary task, but you don’t look forward to it, even if it’s for a good cause. TroubleAgain has been hooked up on a double-arm machine, which means even less mobility and if you go too regularly, it can make you feel weary.
As someone who goes regularly, I can totally sympathize with the need to take a break. It’s more of a mental thing that a physical thing.
I’ve taken to asking myself these types of questions as if someone I loved was asking me.
"Cyn…"says my darling good friend Hilda,"Would I be a terrible person is I stopped donating my blood, well, I’d still donate, but only every 8 weeks? “Cuz it hurts and I’m tired of it, but I’d still donate some of my blood. Would that be okay?”
Who could tell HIlda she was a terrible person?
You and I started donating on the same day, as I recall. I’m so glad to see you in this thread.
I’m going to play it by ear. Thank you for your support and the kick in the common-sense you’ve all given me.
