I started donating blood as soon as I came of age. There’s no noble or grandiose goal. It was just that everyone around me also was doing so. My second sister, her first visit on her 18th birthday was the blood bank, so it always has been a given to me that I also would be go so. Spoilers alert: I did not go on my 18th, I took me a few weeks after my actual birthday to actually go.
Life of blood
Of course, my biochemistry class played a role as well. Admittedly, I did not pay much attention in classes back then, but I still do recall how the lecturer mentioned the blood cells becoming a glorified dye for excrements. See, the thing is all your blood cells, red, white, or else, they have a pretty short life ranging from hours for white cells to 90 days for red. All those cells along with other nutrients or hormones are carried round the body by the plasma. At the end off their life span, they were sent to break down and the Heam or the iron part of the Hemoglobin went to the gall bladder, giving the faces their iconic colour. While we can make new cells as the old ones pass, some cannot. So, her point was that we should give it away before they all go to shit, in the most literal sense.
So, I did go. I made sure to visit every 4 months. From my 18th birthday until I left Yangon for further study, I finished 14 whole-blood donations.
In Thailand
I tried, I did try to visit the Red Cross to start donating again in Bangkok. It was during the Pandemic, and the Red Cross was announcing they need blood. But one, it was properly too far. Like I know, it is in the “centre” of the city proper, so probably it was just me living on the fringes. Also, I did not really feel welcomed for some reasons. May be I was just feeling things living abroad and alone, but yes, I decided not to visit again. They gave me a badge and a mask for my first blood donation.
Then two years passed. For some reason, it never came to my mind that hospitals do maintain their own blood collection centre. Even back in Myanmar, I was always visiting the National Blood Center. By that time, I was beginning my job in Ramathibodi Hospital. Of course, my office is off the hospital grounds but I decided I will be stating my blood donation journey again this year. So, I did 3 times in the last 9 months because Ramathibodi policy allows once every quarter.
Platelets
After my last visit, the doctor recommended may be I should start donating platelets. Of course, they have shorter shelf life of 5 to 7 days compared to 35 days of Whole Blood. But it means they also have shorter life span from 9 to 12 days, which allows the donations to be more frequent. The Ramathibodi policy allows monthly donation. So, if I am dedicated enough, I should be able to cover as much ground.
The reason that persuaded me the most is that whole blood itself is rarely used for transfusion. Giving the whole thing would increase the overall liquid volume overworking the circulatory system and leading to Transfusion Associated Circulatory Overload (TACO). Instead, after the donation, the collected blood is spunned down to different components, splitting it into Red cells, Platelets and Plasma.
When you donate the platelets, it will take a bit longer (1 hour for me) since the process is a bit more complicated than a bag and a cannula. There is a machine called centrifuge on your side, which spuns the blood as you donate instead of doing so after you donate (plateletpheresis). Then, the machine keeps some plasma and the platelets, then the red cells were retransfused to you. As you are not losing the cells which carry oxygen around your body, you noticeably feel less exhausted afterwards.
Better yet, it means one platelet donation can give two up to three units for platelet recipients. Meanwhile, the whole blood spunned-after will give one-fifth of one unit for platelet recipient. Since the whole platelet unit the person will receive comes from one single donor instead of a cocktail, it is considered to be a better approach of platelet donation. Of course, the whole blood would also give other components as well. But I made a choice. I will be visiting again soon. And by soon, I mean as soon as I fulfil the one month period.
