More Strange Kindness & a Request

All night I kept waking up and thinking about the things I forgot to include in the previous post, and then I'd dream about telling the things to a friend.  ::sigh::  I feel a bit fuzzy this morning.

barley52  has an concerned "anonymous" poster (Deb) to his LJ now, a total stranger, who lost her dad to similar circumstances, and she's offering comforting words, advice and encouragement to our B.  I know of 2 different churches who have B on their prayer list.  One is the home church of my project superintendent, and the other is my mom's (in CA).  None of these people know either one of us, but they are praying for us, and you can never have too much faith or too many prayers, ya know?

Additionally, a church friend of mom's (Dorothy) has offered to be a resource when we have questions and concerns.  She asked mom to give us her phone number, and sent a message to B:  "It sounds scarier than it is."  Why this message?  Because she has been living with Meylodysplastic Syndrome for the past 4 years.  She's older than mom, and quite healthy, other than the syndrome.  She also suggested finding a support group, which is probably a good idea.  We have lots of support already, but being able to talk to people who know what you're going through is valuable.

The admissions lady (Stacy) at Meriter was very kind and sympathetic.  She also offered her prayers.  The guy at the Red Cross (Greg) was very apologetic as he explained that many years ago the FDA (thank you very little) had disallowed the practice of people donating blood specifically for a certain person to help mitigate the costs of transfusions to that person.  They said that it's like getting paid for your blood and people who want money for their blood are more likely to lie about their risk factors.  So when the FDA took over control of the entire blood donation industry, they completely cut out the practice of paying for blood in any way.  Greg wished us luck anyway.  I don't understand how the FDA can make a blanket proclamation like this.  You know friends and family members want to help, and aren't going to do anything to knowingly harm their loved one.  Also, all blood is tested to ensure it's safety, and it's irradiated, just to make sure.  I just don't get their reasoning.

Aggravation with the FDA aside, I want to encourage everyone of every blood type who is healthy and able to donate blood and/or platelets.  Even though your donation may not go to our B, the more the bloodbank has on deposit, the easier it is for them to help people.  Donating this way really is a "random act of kindness."  This part of the healthcare industry is crucial to it's success, and most people just don't realize how very important it is to keep the fresh blood supply up.  B is A+, and this is good for him, because Dr.s request A+ platelets or even AB+ platelets for transfusions.  Apparently they're more universally accepted, no matter what your blood type is.  Whereas O+ blood is the universal whole blood donor.  Since I'm AB+, I've given blood fairly frequently since I was 17.  I slacked off for the past couple of years, but you know I'll be restarting my participation now. 

The really cool thing about platelet donation is that they hook you up in a loop, with blood pulling out of one arm, passing through a centrifuge to allow them to filter out platelets, and then the blood pumps back in your other arm.  You don't lose any fluid to speak of, and platelets renew faster than any other cell, so you can actually give more often than you can give whole blood.  A normally healthy person has 400-450k platelets, but you only need about 150k to be healthy, so you're just giving away your excess.  It takes longer than a whole blood donation, but you don't really lose anything but time (3-4 hours, last I heard).  I've never done it, because I haven't got a decent vein to pull from in my right arm.  My left works okay, so blood donation is easy for me, but the "pheresis" donation will be harder.  I'm still gonna try it.  I've always thought it was one of the coolest things they've come up with.

I want to express my appreciation for all the kindnesses we've received this past month, and for continuing support and love.  I hope you all know how very grateful we are to have friends like you, and how encouraging it is to meet complete strangers who are willing to lend comfort and support for the 10 or 20 seconds or minutes they come into contact with us.  "Where Have All the Good People Gone?"  They're all around us every day.  We only need to open our eyes and our hearts to find them.