#hemocrit level too low

[ms-demeanor]

About 900ml of plasma. The machine separates your red blood cells from the plasma and puts the RBCs back in you and rehydrates you with a saline solution. If you lose more than about 300ml of RBCs because of a problem with the donation (bad reaction to medicine, bad stick, etc) and they can't put the red cells back they don't let you come back for six weeks. You lose a small amount of RBCs each time (like 25ish ml?) But your body replenishes that and your plasma pretty fast. They test your iron and hemocrit levels each time as well and if you're too low they'll send you away.

There's not a ton of research on long-term plasma donors, but it's not like donating whole blood twice a week.

You know, for the most part the plasma center is the plasma center: part of an exploitative industry that profits off of poverty (and produces genuinely necessary medicines), sure, but also just people doing their thing. It's routine. You plan it and you go twice a week and you don't think much of it.

And then sometimes you see someone leaving the center holding a copy of "investing for dummies" and it hits you all over how grim the whole thing is. I'm sorry bud, I wish there was an option that would realistically help you out that didn't involve selling blood because I get the feeling that a lot of the stuff in that book is out of reach for you.

[silenceconsumes]

Birthdays suck

But not for the typical reasons. Nope, birthdays suck because they give you a reason to break your diet, eat poorly, eat more than normal, and skip a workout. That is -more or less- what happened to me today. We were celebrating my nieces second birthday party at my sisters house. So already I didn't get to sit down and eat a real healthy breakfast like I would have liked and instead opted for a meal replacement shake. Then we left and stayed most of the day over at her house. I missed out on excersizing during the peak of the day because of it. Granted I did eventually squeeze in a small workout, but it was much much later than normal. Then to top it off the societal norm of goodies at a birthday party gave me an excuse to eat crackers (triscuits and cheese-its) as well as a slice of icecream cake and a pepsi that I split with my Dad.

I will give myself some credit though because I only allowed myself a small piece of cake and only a couple handfuls of crackers with the half a can of soda. Otherwise I hate fairly healthy. I snacked on some canteloup melon and for lunch I had a chicken ceasar salad. And for dinner I had a small bowl of pork stirfry veggies over rice. It was really good. That was hours ago and since then I have only had water, and a few thin slices of extra sharp cheddar cheese. I also chose to bump up my riding time on the stationary bike from thirty three minutes up to a full forty minutes. I kept the rest of the work out the same though so slowly but surely I'm getting back into the swing of things.

The birthday party itself was fun. Got to see my niece open up some really cool presents including a bounce house that I shit you not had to be like eight feet by eight feet with a slide set up to get in and out. Dad and I got her a Minnie Mouse piggy bank and a baby Minnie Mouse that crawls and sings. Or... it was supposed to. Apperantly the gear mechanism that allows for her to crawl was completely toast and we didn't know it so they have to go do an exchange tomorrow. Its a bummer cause she was so excited about it. They (my sister and Bryce) also got her this really kickass toy kitchen set up. She was a complete goober and completely wore herself out by the end of the day.

I was hoping to get back in time to give blood but that didn't end up being viable. Its alright though it just gives me more time to try and build up my iron stores. Last time I went in to try and donate I was deferred because my hemocrit (iron) level was too low. It was a bummer.

Alright thats all for tonight. Thanks to Daylight Savings its already five in the morning.

Journal Entry #62 05:11, Sunday March 11 2018

For Saturday March 10 2018

Will