Slap on the wrist for me. I realised when I looked at our calendar at tea time that I had forgotten my blood donor appointment yesterday. Came home from gym, had a bit of lunch and then took Stanley some pears round, completely forgot that I should have been in West Bradford Village Hall for my donation, I have the letter as well!
I have booked another appointment to donate at Ermystead's in Skipton on Tuesday at 15.10. I will have to go a bit earlier to fill in the paperwork on the day, the medical form I have is barcoded and I think is only relevant to the original appointment. I booked it yesterday so I don't think there is time for another to come through the post.
Well that was a first for me, rocked up early to complete my paperwork for my donor session today. Called about 5 mins after my appointment time. Didn't get past triage today though, Haemoglobin/Iron test didn't sink as it should. Could be the solution in the phial so the nurse retested with another sample that went in the HemoCue machine which gives a definitive level reading. Required level for donation is 135g/l, my second sample was 132g/l so I was stood down from donating today. The level, 3 points below is not low enough for a doctors appointment so I was given the info leaflet. Never happened before in 53 previous donations. She didn't have to invoke the dark blue nurse as that is an instant fail.
The leaflet says, eggs, cereal, dried fruit, baked beans and raft of others etc are good providers of iron.
I had scrambled eggs on toast for breakfast followed by a cereal energy bar. For lunch I had beans on toasted sour dough followed by a fruit scone before I went to today's session. I was well hydrated having been at a gym session this morning, which actually could be why my iron levels have dipped slightly. She recommended not donating for 12 weeks, (which is normal for males) and not after a heavy gym session. We did 9 exercises this morning in in a half hour session, 45 second bursts, 15 seconds rest between two reps of each so 18 in total.
I will have to engage a bit better management when booking my appointments I reckon.
