Once upon a time…
After a couple of years of not knowing what my HIV status was, I took it upon myself on a bright and sunny day (spent running errands for everyone in my house but me) to stop at the next diagnostics lab slash hospital I saw along the road and find out.
Almost immediately I came to the decision I happened along a sign for a hospital that boasted pregnancy test, ultrasound, fertility booster and blood screening amongst it services.
Curious, I followed the path beneath the sign and came up to a somewhat abandoned building. I took it as a sign that maybe today wasn't a good day to get poked.
As I was about to turn around and go home, a youngish looking lady in a nurse’s outfit materialized from thin air and steered me in. I told her what I wanted to do, she confirmed the service was available and told me the doctor was on seat to counsel me.
Initially I thought counsel me for what now? Were all their patients positive? But gave myself a mental shrug and sat down. Since I was there, I might as well go the whole 9 yards.
A few minutes later I was ushered into the doctors office and came face to face with *Junior!
Junior used to follow me around when he was younger; he had crush on me about the size and feel of a hungry cheetah. The last time I saw him, he was in secondary school uniform.
I held unto the doorknob considering the wisdom of my next move.
I stole a glance at him. He looked older, more matured and crush free maybe he wouldn’t remember me? I wore a blank expression stepped into the office and greeted the ‘kind doctor’ it was the near smile on his face when he responded to my greeting that gave him away.
To add excitement to the ordeal he drew blood from me trice, declared me pregnant and HIV positive 1 and 3 times before finally deciding I was not.
I asked him to run the test twice again because by that time I had lost faith in his accuracy ( I repeated the test in another place months later still).
It was the act of drawing blood that drew my attention to another practice I hadn't done in a while; blood donation.
Present day…
June 14 is world Blood Donor Day.
During my undergraduate days, we got malt and meat pie after being successfully screened and donating blood. Compared to paying to have Junior play ‘touch and go’ with my emotions, those days were fun.
I don’t know if the malt and meat pie still follow, because blood donation these days isn’t popular in my present society. Maybe it is because people are scared of needles, afraid their blood will be used for 'ritual purposes', don't trust the storage facilities in the country or are just not aware.
Whatever reason there is, the simple truth is that you should because it’s a nice thing to do.
Aside from providing blood for accident victims, pregnant women in labour, cancer patients, sick anaemia patients and all other people in dire need of blood transfusions (minus vampires obviously) you could unwittingly be saving yourself because before blood donors are accepted, the donors are screened first – verbally and physically (via blood screening et al) thereby exposing any hidden disease you might be harboring.
Donating may actually help you control your blood pressure, reduce the number of circulating bad cells, and remove excessive immunoglobulins.
Then there’s that feel good aura you get knowing you have played a part in saving a life.
There are several types of blood donation (Whole blood, Platelets, Plasma and Double red cells) with Whole blood being the most common.
To qualify as a blood donor, you must be aged 18 to 65, weigh 50kg and above, have a normal blood pressure and acceptable PVC level.
Before a donor's blood is taken, a test is carried to determine if he/she has enough to sustain him after donation. However, pregnant and lactating women are not accepted for homologous blood donation as well as;
i. Anyone who has ever used injection drugs not prescribed by a physician, such as illegal injection drugs or steroids not prescribed by a physician
ii. Anyone who has ever received clotting factor concentrates
iii. Men who have had sexual contact with other men since 1977
iv. Anyone with a positive test for HIV (AIDS virus)
v. Anyone who has had hepatitis after his or her 11th birthday
vi. Men and women who have engaged in sex for money ( ashawo/runs people) or drugs
vii. Anyone who has had babesiosis or Chagas' disease
viii. Anyone who has taken etretinate (Tegison) for psoriasis
ix. Anyone who has risk factors for Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) or who has a blood relative with CJD
x. And people with tattoo’s
Male donors can give blood every 12 weeks. That's approximately every 3 months or 4 times in a 12-month period. Female donors can give every 16 weeks or approximately every 4 months.
It is advisable to get plenty of sleep the night before you plan to donate, eat a healthy meal being careful to avoid fatty foods, such as hamburgers, fries or ice cream (tests for infections done on all donated blood can be affected by fats that appear in your blood for several hours after eating fatty foods) and drink an extra 16 ounces (473 milliliters) of water and other fluids before the donation.
In response to the saying “voluntary blood donation is good but na when person even chop belleful im go remember that one” have it in mind that if you're a healthy adult, you can usually donate a pint of blood without endangering your health. Within 24 hours of a blood donation, your body replaces the lost fluids. After about 21 days your body replaces the lost red blood cells with fresh and more vibrant cells, so you not only loose old and weak cells by donating, but you gain stronger and fresher cells.
So next the next time you are in the mood to go for a blood drive and actually see it through have it in mind that the blood you are sharing could and would save a life.
End
* Junior is not his real name
