| |
Main
Date: 07 Jun 2007 02:08:36
From: marian.rosenberg@gmail.com
Subject: Blood Values
|
The day before yesterday I did my yearly visit to the vampires. I usually try to go for June 11th since that is the anniversary of my fabulous all expenses paid six night seven day trip to shock trauma intensive care but as I'm planning on getting a tattoo on Sunday I decided to go in ahead of schedule. I missed last year's donation so this is my first time since I started becoming actively seriously athletic that I've donated blood. Yesterday when I went riding I had no energy. I wasn't tired or sore or hurting or anything like that. In fact, at the end of the ride I felt almost as fresh as I had at the beginning of the ride. But, from the very beginning as I struggled to barely manage to draft the riding buddy I'm usually waiting for I couldn't get up to speed. I'm used to him dropping me on climbs. That's normal. No matter how much I keep improving anyone with any strength at all has continued to drop me on climbs because I've continued to be at least 20kg heavier than their skinny Asian butts. Being dropped on a gentle incline when I've got a tailwind, however ... that hasn't happened since I learned to pace a year and a half ago. On a normal race bike day I'll do the long loop at an average 27-28kph. On a normal road bike day I'll do the long loop at an average 25-26kph. On a feeling grungy tired road bike day I'll do the long loop at maybe 23-24kph. Yesterday I did the short loop at an average 20.6kph. How long will it take to get back to normal? -M
|
|
| |
Date: 11 Jun 2007 01:49:07
From: marian.rosenberg@gmail.com
Subject: Re: Blood Values
|
On Jun 11, 9:15 am, fred <f...@fred.com > wrote: > Cathy Kearns wrote: > > <rle...@hotmail.com> wrote in message > >news:1181396861.771733.13250@o11g2000prd.googlegroups.com... > >> I usually donate about four times a year. This year I think I'm up to > >> six or so -- they can yank platelets every two weeks, it seems. > > > I took up cycling to keep up with my husband. He started me on the back of > > our tandem, and now I'm climbing, and can almost keep up on my own. > > > But I'm posting here to thank all of you who are giving blood and platelets. > > My husband is at Stanford right now, in the Blood Marrow Transplant unit > > fighting Lymphoma. He gets blood or platelets every few days, and is slowly > > getting better. He is looking forward to the day where he will again be out > > on his bike. But he couldn't do it without you all. Thank you. > > I started donating regularly after my niece was diagnosed with cancer. > Being a guy, I wanted to "do something". Not much you can do about > cancer. She needed transfusions - the chemo sent her white count way > too low. Of course, I couldn't donate for her (wrong blood type and > wrong city). The only way I could see of "thanking" the folks who did > donate was to donate in kind. Been doing that ever since. > > If you are eligible, please donate. Odds are someone you love will need > a transfusion some day. I do it because, although they ultimately decided not to give me a transfusion, my hospital room in the shock trauma ICU (and you know it's real bad when you spend a week in shock trauma) had two bags of whole blood in the refrigerator (along with a wide variety of snacks brought by my family) just in case I suddenly needed it RIGHT NOW. I know from 9/11 (when so many people donated that there was, for once, extra and time enough to do tests on all the extra blood) that although I have blood type A, there is some other fidgety blood characteristic that I have which makes my blood highly desirable. Enough so that the Red Cross was regularly calling and pressuring me for a while (as in every week). But the local (to me in the US) blood center at the time was such a pain in the ass about scheduling a visit despite my special blood that I just said to hell with it and went back to my previous pattern of randomly donating whenever a blood mobile happened to be around and I remembered. Now I'm off the US donor list. It irritates the hell out of me. Notwithstanding the fact that I do regularly go out into the local countryside, the way in which the map has been drawn indicating 6 months suspension for a visit to a "malarial risk area" means that I can live in this city and still be on the US donor list BUT the road to the airport passes through the defined risk area and the act of leaving the city by any method other than star trek transporter knocks me off the US list. -M
|
| |
Date: 10 Jun 2007 17:27:24
From: Nexus7
Subject: Re: Blood Values
|
On Jun 6, 9:08 pm, "marian.rosenb...@gmail.com" <marian.rosenb...@gmail.com > wrote: > improving anyone with any strength at all has continued to drop me on > climbs because I've continued to be at least 20kg heavier than their Drop another liter or two at the vampires'?
|
| |
Date: 09 Jun 2007 06:47:41
From:
Subject: Re: Blood Values
|
Dear Mountain Flower: marian.rosenberg@gmail.com wrote: > The day before yesterday I did my yearly visit to the vampires. I > usually try to go for June 11th since that is the anniversary of my > fabulous all expenses paid six night seven day trip to shock trauma > intensive care but as I'm planning on getting a tattoo on Sunday I > decided to go in ahead of schedule. SNIP My local blood bank (we've got the locals and we've got the carpet- bagging, corrupt American red Cross around here, yeah, I'm still mad about Dodie Rotherham and the Pine Fin donations, but that's nothing, my mom's sill livid about the Loma Prieta Earthquake donations!) liked my whole blood donations, but lately they've been asking just for the platelets. It's only two needle sticks (one lanceting for iiron content because they already know my type), but the second needle stays in for an hour or so as the apheris machine sucks it out, separrates and sends back the plasma and red cells. Once I gave plasma instead, but they'd prefer platelets. No great loss -- they can freeze- dry the plasma. After donating platelets I'm not exactly 100%, but way better than the nasty and weak rider I become after donating whole blood (shouting "coward" at wrong-way sidewalk-riding Segway scooterers and yelling zer0-profanity insults to the editor of the local paper when I pass its office building). At least, after donating I CAN cycle back home -- it's downhill from the blood bank office, and I'm careful to wait an hour or so in "Recovery" and hydrate away like crazy instead of the usual 15 minute recommendation. I usually donate about four times a year. This year I think I'm up to six or so -- they can yank platelets every two weeks, it seems. rleone
|
| | |
Date: 10 Jun 2007 08:14:42
From: Cathy Kearns
Subject: Re: Blood Values
|
<rleone@hotmail.com > wrote in message news:1181396861.771733.13250@o11g2000prd.googlegroups.com... > I usually donate about four times a year. This year I think I'm up to > six or so -- they can yank platelets every two weeks, it seems. I took up cycling to keep up with my husband. He started me on the back of our tandem, and now I'm climbing, and can almost keep up on my own. But I'm posting here to thank all of you who are giving blood and platelets. My husband is at Stanford right now, in the Blood Marrow Transplant unit fighting Lymphoma. He gets blood or platelets every few days, and is slowly getting better. He is looking forward to the day where he will again be out on his bike. But he couldn't do it without you all. Thank you.
|
| | | |
Date: 10 Jun 2007 20:15:42
From: fred
Subject: Re: Blood Values
|
Cathy Kearns wrote: > <rleone@hotmail.com> wrote in message > news:1181396861.771733.13250@o11g2000prd.googlegroups.com... >> I usually donate about four times a year. This year I think I'm up to >> six or so -- they can yank platelets every two weeks, it seems. > > I took up cycling to keep up with my husband. He started me on the back of > our tandem, and now I'm climbing, and can almost keep up on my own. > > But I'm posting here to thank all of you who are giving blood and platelets. > My husband is at Stanford right now, in the Blood Marrow Transplant unit > fighting Lymphoma. He gets blood or platelets every few days, and is slowly > getting better. He is looking forward to the day where he will again be out > on his bike. But he couldn't do it without you all. Thank you. > > I started donating regularly after my niece was diagnosed with cancer. Being a guy, I wanted to "do something". Not much you can do about cancer. She needed transfusions - the chemo sent her white count way too low. Of course, I couldn't donate for her (wrong blood type and wrong city). The only way I could see of "thanking" the folks who did donate was to donate in kind. Been doing that ever since. If you are eligible, please donate. Odds are someone you love will need a transfusion some day. Regards to all.
|
| |
Date: 07 Jun 2007 11:00:05
From: thejen12
Subject: Re: Blood Values
|
On Jun 6, 7:08 pm, "marian.rosenb...@gmail.com" <marian.rosenb...@gmail.com > wrote: > The day before yesterday I did my yearly visit to the vampires. I > usually try to go for June 11th since that is the anniversary of my > fabulous all expenses paid six night seven day trip to shock trauma > intensive care but as I'm planning on getting a tattoo on Sunday I > decided to go in ahead of schedule. > > I missed last year's donation so this is my first time since I started > becoming actively seriously athletic that I've donated blood. > > Yesterday when I went riding I had no energy. I wasn't tired or sore > or hurting or anything like that. In fact, at the end of the ride I > felt almost as fresh as I had at the beginning of the ride. But, from > the very beginning as I struggled to barely manage to draft the riding > buddy I'm usually waiting for I couldn't get up to speed. I'm used to > him dropping me on climbs. That's normal. No matter how much I keep > improving anyone with any strength at all has continued to drop me on > climbs because I've continued to be at least 20kg heavier than their > skinny Asian butts. Being dropped on a gentle incline when I've got a > tailwind, however ... that hasn't happened since I learned to pace a > year and a half ago. > > On a normal race bike day I'll do the long loop at an average > 27-28kph. > On a normal road bike day I'll do the long loop at an average > 25-26kph. > On a feeling grungy tired road bike day I'll do the long loop at maybe > 23-24kph. > Yesterday I did the short loop at an average 20.6kph. > > How long will it take to get back to normal? > > -M For me it takes 2-3 days to get close to normal, a couple more to feel normal. Last time I gave, someone there said that, although it takes 8 weeks to actually get your numbers back to normal, about 80% of that comes back in the first 3 days. If I were to ride the day after giving whole blood, my experience would be about the same as yours was. Take today off and try again tomorrw, I'll bet it will go a whole lot better Jenn
|
| |
Date: 07 Jun 2007 07:58:00
From: Davey Crockett
Subject: Re: Blood Values
|
* "marian.rosenberg@gmail.com" <marian.rosenberg@gmail.com > a écrit > The day before yesterday I did my yearly visit to the vampires. I > usually try to go for June 11th since that is the anniversary of my > fabulous all expenses paid six night seven day trip to shock trauma > intensive care but as I'm planning on getting a tattoo on Sunday I > decided to go in ahead of schedule. > > I missed last year's donation so this is my first time since I started > becoming actively seriously athletic that I've donated blood. > > Yesterday when I went riding I had no energy. I wasn't tired or sore > or hurting or anything like that. In fact, at the end of the ride I > felt almost as fresh as I had at the beginning of the ride. But, from > the very beginning as I struggled to barely manage to draft the riding > buddy I'm usually waiting for I couldn't get up to speed. I'm used to > him dropping me on climbs. That's normal. No matter how much I keep > improving anyone with any strength at all has continued to drop me on > climbs because I've continued to be at least 20kg heavier than their > skinny Asian butts. Being dropped on a gentle incline when I've got a > tailwind, however ... that hasn't happened since I learned to pace a > year and a half ago. > > On a normal race bike day I'll do the long loop at an average > 27-28kph. > On a normal road bike day I'll do the long loop at an average > 25-26kph. > On a feeling grungy tired road bike day I'll do the long loop at maybe > 23-24kph. > Yesterday I did the short loop at an average 20.6kph. > > How long will it take to get back to normal? > > -M > (1) http://ep.physoc.org/cgi/reprint/91/3/499.pdf There's some info here, Marian, which you could plough through and doubtless many more Learned Treatises from Learned Doctors if you search the net (2) But why not just establish your own "baseline"? Do your standard rides 1, 2, 4 and 6 days before phlebotomy and record the results noting any factors which would cause a variance from a "normal" ride Then log your results for the same rides post phlebotomy at say 2 day intervals until you return to baseline Preserve your data and compare it the next time you donate. (3) And possibly simpler. Grab Fuentes' Black Book. Ask any of the guys ;) -- Le vent à Dos Davey Crockett [No 4Q to reply]
|
| |
Date: 06 Jun 2007 21:31:10
From: fred
Subject: Re: Blood Values
|
marian.rosenberg@gmail.com wrote: > The day before yesterday I did my yearly visit to the vampires. I > usually try to go for June 11th since that is the anniversary of my > fabulous all expenses paid six night seven day trip to shock trauma > intensive care but as I'm planning on getting a tattoo on Sunday I > decided to go in ahead of schedule. > > I missed last year's donation so this is my first time since I started > becoming actively seriously athletic that I've donated blood. > > Yesterday when I went riding I had no energy. I wasn't tired or sore > or hurting or anything like that. In fact, at the end of the ride I > felt almost as fresh as I had at the beginning of the ride. But, from > the very beginning as I struggled to barely manage to draft the riding > buddy I'm usually waiting for I couldn't get up to speed. I'm used to > him dropping me on climbs. That's normal. No matter how much I keep > improving anyone with any strength at all has continued to drop me on > climbs because I've continued to be at least 20kg heavier than their > skinny Asian butts. Being dropped on a gentle incline when I've got a > tailwind, however ... that hasn't happened since I learned to pace a > year and a half ago. > > On a normal race bike day I'll do the long loop at an average > 27-28kph. > On a normal road bike day I'll do the long loop at an average > 25-26kph. > On a feeling grungy tired road bike day I'll do the long loop at maybe > 23-24kph. > Yesterday I did the short loop at an average 20.6kph. > > How long will it take to get back to normal? > > -M > That really depends on the person (and a variety of other factors). I find that as I've gotten older, it takes me about 7 to 10 days to really get back to "normal" (there are plenty who'd argue that I never get to "normal"). When I was much younger (say 30), no effect at all - best squash game I ever played was 2 hours after I donated. I think that would kill me today. I donate every 8 weeks. I usually plan a light week of training for the week following the donation. And a hard week prior. Do keep donating. Unless Asians are a whole lot different than westerners, you're probably one of the few, the proud, the holey. Live Long and Bleed Fast Jeff
|
| | |
Date: 07 Jun 2007 14:35:17
From: Claire Petersky
Subject: Re: Blood Values
|
"fred" <fred@fred.com > wrote in message news:w5K9i.92887$vE1.70855@newsfe24.lga... > marian.rosenberg@gmail.com wrote: >> I missed last year's donation so this is my first time since I started >> becoming actively seriously athletic that I've donated blood. I'm a regular donor, but I simply don't donate blood during the big riding season. My last donation was in April, and I won't take it up again until October. >> How long will it take to get back to normal? > I find that as I've gotten older, it takes me about 7 to 10 days to really > get back to "normal" Yeah, at least three days, and a week sounds more like it for me. > Do keep donating. Unless Asians are a whole lot different than > westerners, you're probably one of the few, the proud, the holey. I don't know about China, but when I lived in Japan, they were almost completely dependent on the US for their blood supply. They had a lot of taboos about donating blood. One of them was that it was considered immodest for any fluid (including blood) to be seen flowing out of the body. So when you'd donate, you'd stick your arm into a hole, and the blood technician would work behind a barrier. -- Warm Regards, Claire Petersky http://www.bicyclemeditations.org/ See the books I've set free at: http://bookcrossing.com/referral/Cpetersky
|
| | | |
Date: 07 Jun 2007 17:34:56
From: Mike Kruger
Subject: Re: Blood Values
|
Claire Petersky wrote: > > I don't know about China, but when I lived in Japan, they were almost > completely dependent on the US for their blood supply. I'm not up to date on this, but a WSJ article 10+ years ago suggested this was also true of other countries. I remember Switzerland being specifically cited as a large importer. In fact, that's how AIDS entered Switzerland, although it would probably have gotten there eventually. Exporting blood was a big moneymaker for the American Red Cross.
|
|