Anyone every do a round robin transfusion schedule?

[edithr]

I don't know if that's the right term or not. It's when, say you have to get blood every other week. You incorporate six if your friends,they donate every eight weeks, and you get only their blood. My math might be wrong, my head hurts, but do you understand what I'm trying to say?

I don't think that the blood supply is of much concern here in the US, but I know in other countries it could be. And some people are just naturally more cautious than others.

Anyway, I was just curious.

[Chirley]

We are not permitted to ask for specific donors in Australia. All blood is donated to the Red Cross Blood Transfusion Service and then distributed where needed. Sometimes the Red Cross have to ask certain donors to come in for certain patients because of compatibility issues.

We can also donate some of our own blood pre op and get it back if we need it during surgery.

It's the same with organ donation you can't specify who gets the cadaver organ you donate, however, it's obviously different for live donors.

[Neil Cuadra]

Having a set of regular donors, spaced out over time, is a great idea if you can arrange it. If their blood type isn't one you can receive then their blood will go to somebody else, but perhaps they'd want to check if they are compatible with you and know for sure.

When friends of my wife donated blood for her, the blood units were tagged with unique numbers but not with their names. Donors were told their own number so they could phone in a message if they turned out to be sick right after donating. That way the unit could be destroyed.

When my wife received blood she wasn't told who the donor was. However, I noticed two things: that the tagging on the bag was different when it was a directed donation, and that the donation unit number was still marked on it. So I asked our friends to tell me their donation numbers after they donated, and I kept a chart. When my wife received blood I could tell her who it was from and we could thank them specifically!

I suppose hospitals have their reasons for trying to keep directed donations anonymous in case you have a bad reaction, or take a turn for the worse, after receiving blood, to avoid any possibility of blame or resentment, but we wouldn't have felt that way. These friends were helping save her life!