The hospital that Edgar is in is a university hospital. I went to that university. Back when I was a student, I went to donate blood at said university hospital. That was 15 years ago. Fifteen years ago, they had a question on the screening questionnaire, which is no longer on the current questionnaire, that was something along the lines of "Have you ever had any sexual contact with someone who could ever possibly have had sexual contact with someone who has HIV or has used IV drugs?" (Notice it doesn't say unprotected sexual contact?)
In my literal-minded youth, I took it to mean that if you haven't spent every minute of every day with every person you've ever had sexual contact with, then how can you REALLY know? I mean, you can trust someone, but they could still be lying, right? So unless you were a virgin, which I was not, you'd really HAVE to answer that question as yes. At that point, I had had sex with two people, both of them long-term boyfriends. One of them had cheated on me, and even though he said he used a condom, if he'd cheat, he sure as hell could lie. I never had sex with him without a condom.
So I answered the question yes. They came in and asked me about it, and I basically said what I said above, how can you know, if you have ever let them out of your sight? They took that to be suspicious and deferred me. Apparently forever. I still remember the attitude of the person who deferred me. She acted like I was carrying the plague and she couldn't wait to get me out of her sight.
Cut to fifteen years later, when my premature infant is in the hospital and may need a second transfusion. I am now 7 weeks post partum, so I am eligible to donate blood. It's pretty iffy if they'd let me anyway, given my blood loss during surgery and my chronic anemia, but I've been hitting the iron pretty hard and I wanted to at least try to give my baby my blood. Her daddy is still ineligible until July 7.
So I go in and fill out the form and sit and wait. They finally call me in and tell me I am indefinitely deferred because of the answer on that question 15 years ago. The question they no longer even ask. So I can't donate blood to my own child, despite having carried her in my body, despite the fact that if I had it, she'd likely already have it since I didn't take AZT during pregnancy, despite the fact that if I had been exposed to HIV 15 years ago, I'd sure as hell know it by now, despite the fact that when you're pregnant, you get an HIV test, and I have tested negative with both pregnancies, despite being in a monogamous relationship for 11 years, despite the fact that my husband has been tested several times in conjunction with immigration proceedings, despite the fact that I have donated blood twice through the Red Cross, despite the fact that do you think that if I had ANY inkling of suspicion that I had HIV that I WOULD DONATE BLOOD TO MY CHILD???
I do understand that they have rules and they have to be very very careful to keep the blood supply as safe as possible. But given my answers on the questionnaire they use today, I am eligible to donate, and they don't even ask that question anymore, isn't it a little ridiculous to defer me, since I have explained to them why I answered the question that way? It wasn't in any way because I thought my boyfriend might have been exposed to HIV. It was because the damn question was really vague and I thought I was being honest to answer it that way.
How bizarre is it that an answer on a questionnaire 15 years ago prevents me from donating blood to my baby now. If she'd been born in a different hospital, it wouldn't be an issue. It's only because this hospital is connected with the university where I tried to donate then.
The nurse was going to send it to the director and see if they can lift the deferment. It's still not even likely that I have a high enough iron level to donate, or that if I can, that I'm
CMV-negative, (most of the adult population is not, and infants have to have CMV-negative blood for transfusions), but I'd at least like to try.
She may not need another transfusion, as she *is* making red blood cells, and they are giving her
Procrit. But if her hematocrit keeps dropping, she will need another one.
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llnaughty that she doesn't force the kids to wear sweaters. Apparently it didn't make it to the other one, who is in charge after the first one leaves, for an hour before I get there to pick her up. So now I have to have the conversation with the other one. It's so obvious to me that you don't force a child to wear a jacket, it's hard for me to come up with an explanation that doesn't sound snarky. It's not like it's 40 degrees out. It's in the mid to high 60's and she's running around like a fiend, and she gets hot. I figure she'll put it back on it she gets cold. I've done this with her since she was a toddler. She knows her body, not the teacher. I hate having to do this.
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ninetydegrees