Tuesday 21 August 2012

Blood and roses ...

Yesterday saw us donating blood again. Once more, OH failed the copper sulphur drop test to ensure he had adequate iron levels to donate. A sample was taken from his arm and he was declared fine so this time, he was able to donate. Sometimes the finger blood drop test does fail. One drop of blood has a certain amount of seconds to drop to the bottom of the tube. If it doesn't, they will take a sample from you, test it, then decide.

The men's test is higher than the women's as they have a slightly higher level of stored iron than us. I have only failed once when I tried to donate a couple of weeks after recovering from flu!

Mind you, my donation was a little hit and miss as the machine kept bleeping to indicate my donation was not flowing at the correct rate. Several times they adjusted the needle then after that it was okay.
Most of the time after donating, we feel fine for the rest of the day, occasionally we feel very tired. 

That in itself is not surprising when you realise that iron rich red blood cells carry the oxygen around your body. Therefore reduced iron = reduced oxygen = tiredness. Your body wants you to rest until it can get your oxygen levels back up again - usually within 24 hours although red blood cells/iron levels take many weeks to recover to normal.

Yesterday was just such a day. We hardly had the energy to make tea, then I needed to make a raspberry cloud cake for our 'school' B-B-Q tonight. I'm still tired today which is very unusual but I think perhaps the weather isn't helping.

I don't know if you can remember a few posts back me showing you a candelabra of roses forming in the front garden. Well, it is in full, if smaller than normal bloom.


7 comments:

  1. Well done on donating-very valuable service:-)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thank you. Yesterday's was number 40!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Its a brilliant thing to do. I only managed about 8 units but I became anaemic and they wouldnt take any more.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Every 'pint' helps Anne - that was probably 8 people you saved/helped lead a more normal life!

      Delete
  4. I think you're right about the weather making you feel tired. It just about drains me and takes me ages to do anything at the moment. Not complaining though! Hope you feel more alert soon. Keep the good work going! The roses look gorgeous by the way.
    Patricia x

    ReplyDelete
  5. Donating blood really is a good and helpful thing to do! I hope your energy is back to normal againg now :)
    Love the white rose, it is absolutely lovely.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Hilde. The rose is called 'Wedding Anniversary' and was bought for us one year by the land lady at the place we stayed in.

      Delete

I love hearing from you, will read all your comments and try and answer any questions you leave. Please leave comments in English. Don't forget to come back and read my reply! All comments are moderated so if you try to link it to a commercial web site, it will not be published.