A patient came in while I was shadowing an outpatient doctor. It turned out she had been to the hospital before because of vaginal bleeding while pregnant, but she had "ran off" - according to the nurse. The situation was unclear, and depending on who I talked to, I gathered different information. One source said she was just uncompliant and went home even though she was placed in inpatient care to be looked after. Another source said she had no one with her, and because in Sierra Leone, in order to get transfusions, you had to have a relative donate blood, she went home to get someone. In any case, she came back with a relative, but her condition had progressed to a much worse state (perhaps infection?).
In any case, for all you capable blood donors out there - GO DONATE BLOOD!!!! It's a really great service we have in the States. Can you imagine how difficult it would be to have to always take a relative with you when you have to go into surgery, and not even knowing if their blood will match yours? And then to be turned away if you didn't have an eligible donor? So please, if you are more than 110lbs, haven't traveled to a malaria infested country (among other activities that could get you sick), have enough iron - scratch that - even if you don't have enough iron just eat more spinach - GO DONATE BLOOD!
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| Mothers at the malnutrition clinic in Kwama |
I've been trying to donate blood for the longest time. Iron deficiency and malaria countries have prevented me from doing so. I'll try again in a few months. I signed up for donating bone marrow though. Need more minorities, esp asians, to do that!
ReplyDeleteomg! so true! my friend is in charge of the bone marrow program at washu, and she's been trying to advocate for it forever! eat that red meat!!
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