• Everyone is different and it affects different people different ways...

• You may get chilled... - Your blood is going outside your body and then returning at a slightly lower temperature than your body... ask for a blanket if you get cold. They even make machines that will warm your blood back up before it is returned to you !!!

• Apheresis uses an anti-coagulent (so that your blood won't clot in the machine...) which may deplete some calcium in your blood... Try some chewable flavored TUMS when beginning the procedure. (they're not so bad... think of it like a Flintstone^® vitamin !!! ) It will help the calcuim level - which is somewhat depleted during the procedure and sometimes causes the tingling... especially around your lips.

• Be in a reclining position, with your feet elevated and relax... Have some juice and crackers or something to eat near the end of the procedure... before you get unhooked... It'll help with any dizziness you may feel...

• They have 11 machines where I go... of three different models. I like two of the newer models better than the older one. One of the newer ones completes the procedure quicker and with less anti-coagulent than the others and the newer ones even operate (pump & return) on a single needle rather than getting stuck twice... (once in each arm.)

• Be sure to be well hydrated on the day of your donation. ie. drink lots of water for at least 24-36 hours before... it will help them set the IV easier and your veins aren't as likely to collapse. NO ASPIRIN ! Feel well in advance and by all means, after your donation, if you get ill, CALL THE DONATION CENTER and tell them your platelets may not be suitable for use !!!

• Oh, and one last note...
  Make sure you pee before you lie down...

  On Thursday, I will be going to donate platelets for the 14th time. They love to see me come in... my platelet count is usually high enough for them to get enough for 2-3 patients, plus the lab tech's say I have "really good veins!" There are some donors there that have donated over 200 times !

  Personally, I enjoy the 1½ hour time to just sit there and watch a movie with some juice and crackers, but, I didn't start to donate platelets to sit on my butt for an hour or so... I began to donate to give other kids like my daughter, what they so urgently needed. Platelets. In 1997, my 2½ year old was diagnosed with cancer. In June of 2000, she turned 6. So... whatever your reason, go sit down for an hour or two... You can make all the difference in the world.
  
  
  
  Platelet Sites:
  Dana Farber Cancer Institute

  Platelet Disorder Support Association—founded in 1998 to help patients with immune thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP), they are very supportive of the platelet donation process.

Platelets are the smallest of the cells in the blood and they're needed for blood clotting. Any disease that inhibits the body's ability to produce healthy blood cells means the person must rely heavily on donated platelets to survive. Chemotherapy, leukemias, and aplastic anemia are among those conditions that effect the body's ability to produce its own platelets. Apheresis is the process used to collect platelets.

Although centers that collect platelets will do so all year 'round, the National Platelet Association runs a special campaign every September to recruit donors. Check their web site out for the apheresis center nearest you.

You can help the recruitment process as well. You'll be helping out your own child as well as thousands of more children and adults in need of blood products. If you need more ideas to get jump started, check out the National Platelet Association's Platelet Donor Recruitment web site. They have a host of examples and ideas of how you can help.

1. Contact your local apheresis center and offer to volunteer your time as a "Recruitment Ambassador." Many apheresis centers host recruitment drives and may appreciate volunteers to help distribute information and share personal stories about why platelet donation is important. [If your center isn't on our mailing list, let us know!

2. Contact your church, synagogue or other house of worship, and see if it might be possible to make an "appeal from the pulpit" during special platelet drives.

3. Send the National Platelet Association a self-addressed stamped envelope, and they will send you some materials to help you spread the word: ribbons, information sheets, flyers, etc.
   National Platelet Association
   2807 Fifth Avenue
   Baltimore, MD 21234-3009
   410-668-9346
   

4. During special donor drives send e-mails to family, friends, co-workers, and others you know.

5. Make and distribute yellow awareness ribbons -- cutting off one tail to make the letter "P."

6. Encourage your company or work place to adopt a "time off to donate" policy.

7. Offer to escort someone to an initial recruiting visit at your local apheresis center -- this helps to reduce anxiety.

8. Write a letter to your local newspaper

9. Do your own thing:
   • make a T-shirt from your computer promoting platelet donation;
   • get a hat made with your HLA-Type printed on it as a conversation starter;
   • get a bunch of friends together to form a human platelet and have the local newspaper do a story about the event.

National Platelet Association
2807 Fifth Avenue
Baltimore, MD 21234-3009
410-668-9346

For more information on platelets, visit the National Platelet Association web site and the National Platelet Association's Platelet Donor Recruitment Week Site!

Are You Eligible to Donate Platelets?

Major Qualifications:
• Be in good general health
• Weight at least 110 pounds
• Feel well on the day of donation
• Be 17 years of age or older
• Allow 56 days since last whole blood donation

  Major Disqualifications

• History of hepatitis
• History of coronary artery
• Insulin-dependent diabetes
• History of most types of cancer
• History of sickle cell disease
• Travel in the past year to at-risk areas
• At risk for AIDS or HIV infection
• Pregnant or trying to become pregnant
• Tattoos within 12 months of blood donation
• Recipient of blood transfusion in the last 12 months

  On the Day of your donation

• Be 48 hours free of antibiotics
• Be 3 days free of aspirin products
• Be 24 hours free of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory (Ibuprofen, Advil, etc.) (Tylenol is accepted).
• If you are currently taking an medications, please check with your Apherisis Center before donation to check your eligibility.
• Be free of cold or flu-like symptoms
• Drink plenty of water/juice and eat a good meal before donation
• Photo ID

A teacher was giving a lesson on the circulation of the blood. Trying to make the matter clearer, she said, "Now, class, if I stood on my head, the blood, as you know, would run into it, and I would turn red in the face."

"Yes," the class said.

"Then why is it that while I am standing upright in the ordinary position the blood doesn't run into my feet?"

A little fellow shouted, "Cause yer feet ain't empty."

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Factoid: Dueling is legal in Paraguay as long as both parties are registered blood donors.

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