Denied! :(

I received an email yesterday from the Blood Centers of the Pacific informing me that 8 weeks passed since my last donation and I was eligible to donate again.

After work I dutifully trooped over to the nearby Redwood City donation center. I had read about their new ALYX system which collects two units of red cells at once from donors, and I was keen to give it a try. Double karma points!

In order to donate a double supply of red cells, a donor has to weigh at least 150 lbs (not a problem for me at the moment!) and have a hematocrit of at least 40. For a standard blood donation, the hematocrit has to be at least 38.

Mine was 36. Crud!!

So I'll start popping the One-A-Days again, and try again in a couple of weeks.

Or in other words, "Ahhhl be bahhk"