I Didn't Bleed for Nothing

Yeah!

Let me explain:

I was feeling very well on Tuesday afternoon, when I donated blood. On Tuesday night I started sneezing and felt tired (probably due to blood loss). Throughout Wednesday I continued sneezing and by Wednesday night I was knee deep in congestion, sore throat and infection by rhinovirus (common cold). Now, I'm not one to cower in the presence of a rhinovirus, terrifying though they may be (see below for illustrations), but I was feeling a little distressed. There there was the possibility that, if I had something more serious than a cold, the bloodbank would not be able to use my blood and it would have to be discarded. I was somewhat disheartened to think that I'd bled 470mL of my lovely blood for nothing. But, thankfully, when I rang the bloodbank on Thursday, the "medical person" ("I'll put you through to a Medical Person") I spoke to seemed to think my blood would be okay to use. Hurrah!!!

Background Information: After a person donates blood, they have to monitor their health for a week. To quote the bloodbank: Should you become aware of any reason why your blood should not be used for transfusion, please call us...In particular, if you develop a cough, cold, diarrhoea or other infection within a week after donating, please report it immediately. The Medical Person (I assume it was either a nurse or a doctor) I spoke to asked if I had a fever or diarrhoea and wanted to know when my symptoms had developed. It seemed as though the main issue was whether or not I had a fever and/or diarrhoea, which, I guess, could be indicative of a more serious infection that begins with cold-like symptoms. The bloodbank does routinely test donated blood for hepatitis B and C, HIV-1 and HIV-2, HTLV (I dunno what it is either), and syphilis (which I thought had been lost to time with the demise of pre-Enlightenment royalty), but I guess it's best to err on the side of caution, ie to have more people ringing the bloodbank for non-serious infections, than to have less people ringing in and potentially miss a serious infection.


Rhinovirus:



Adorable (and terrifying) Rhinovirus:

[Source: Handmade Gypsy]