A valuable donation...

When my grandmother was in the hospital she needed platelets and quickly received them because of a faithful platelet donor. Platelets are the part of the blood that help it to clot by putting a temporary plug in a wound. My mom has donated platelets in the past and I have considered donating before but once someone in my family needed platelets, I realized how important platelet donation really is. So, this afternoon, I donated platelets! 

It was an amazing procedure. I sat in a relaxing chair with both of my arms propped up and watched Bride Wars while the donation occurred. The blood was drawn from one arm and went first to a cell separator machine. The process is called apheresis. The platelets were separated and sent to a collection bag, and the remaining components were returned into the other arm. The procedure took a little over two hours. It wasn't bad at all. Other than being really cold, I really enjoyed just relaxing in a comfy chair for two hours! 

The dark yellowish bag on the left contains my plasma. The lighter yellow bag
on the left contains my platelets. One donation often contains enough platelets to
give to 3 different patients. 

When all the platelets had been separated from the five liters of blood they "borrowed," the nurse showed me the platelets that had been extracted. I was so amazed to see this valuable and fragile donation. I didn't realize until today how precious platelets are. Platelets are vital to life. A wide variety of patients need platelets. Cancer patients, burn victims, organ transplant patients, bone marrow transplant patients, and heart surgery patients all need platelets on a regular basis. Others, like my Grandmother, have Thrombocytopenia. This is a condition in people who have too few platelets. While some people naturally produce fewer platelets than normal, in other instances platelets are destroyed or damaged so they need new platelets immediately. The most interesting fact I learned today was the lifespan of platelets. All platelet donations must be used within 5 days. So, that shows how important faithful donors are. 

Today I am thankful for apheresis. It allows so many folks to receive platelets, which they cannot live without.  I was so impressed by the whole process and the nurses that assisted me. I am also grateful for my ability to donate platelets. My donation will be a blessing to someone within the next five days! That's pretty awesome! Mostly, I am in awe of God's creation. No matter what man creates or figures out, there are just some things only God can create! Platelets are not formed in a laboratory or cloned by scientists. Platelets were created by Our Sovereign Lord and must be donated from one person to another. How amazing is that!? Even though technology and science have come up with a way for these donations to be easily done, none of it would be possible without the amazing things God has provided for us. His ways are so lovely! His creativity blows my mind!