Apheresis Sounds Scary But Isn’t
I normally give blood every eight weeks at my church, but I missed the last donation due to vacation. Inova caught up with me via email though, and I donated Tuesday at Reston Town Center.
During my interview, the phlebotomist asked me whether I’d be interested in donating my red blood cells through apheresis, rather than just the standard pint of whole blood. I’d heard of the procedure, but only as it is used to donate platelets or plasma. Using the dual red blood cell procedure, I would be able to donate twice the number of the red blood cells normally contained in a pint of blood, which would make for a more useful donation for someone in need. I had two questions: How much longer does it take, and does it hurt more? (I know, a real tough guy.) Satisfied with the answers (about 15 minutes for a total of 30, and not at all), I agreed.