Medical Mysteries

My friend Mal pointed out that a lot of people blog about their medical problems. Personally, she thinks it is TMI. Personally, I think it is funny. If someone blogs about how they got cancer and are now a 5-year cancer survivor, of course I don't think it's funny. I do, however, think it's funny when people blog about the pinched nerves in their neck and that they had to cut their hair because of it.

There won't be any crossing the line into TMI with this blog, just some helpful suggestions for all of my fellow anemic peeps out there.

The Red Cross calls me to donate blood every 8 weeks exactly. I always say yes because I feel like donating blood is something I can do to help keep the blood supply healthy and disease-free. But then one day, I got a call and I felt irritated because the lady asking me to donate acted like she just expected me to say yes because I always say yes. In my anger, I told her that I wasn't going to be able to donate at this time. So she reminded me that my blood has been classified as being so clean and pure that it can be used for babies, and that one pint of my blood could save up to 4 babies. She used emotional manipulation to get me to consent to donating again and ever since then I have to do it "for the babies."

My eligibility date came up again last week, so I decided to beat the Red Cross to the punch and go to the donation center of my own accord before they called me. Everything was going OK until, during the screening, I was asked if I was still a female and still caucasian.
"Um, what? Yeah, unless something happened since the last time I looked in the mirror, I was still me and not Michael Jackson (he's starting with the man in the mirror)."

Just in case you're wondering, they don't like sarcastic answers at the Red Cross, which makes me remember my friend Bob's* experience at the plasma center:
"I can get AIDS by having sex with a prostitute."
"Um, OK"
"I can get AIDS by having sex with a prostitute."
"Yeah, I know."
"True or False? I can get AIDS by having sex with a prostitute!!!"
"TRUE!"

Anyway... all of my tests came up great except that my hematocrit (measures proportion of blood volume occupied by red blood cells) was too low. I got "rejected" as a blood donor, and they sent me home with a paper that has all sorts of information on anemia and how you can fix it. I felt like such a failure... 4 babies might die because I'm anemic! I had to do something, and I had to do it quick.

One of the suggestions was to increase the amount of iron intake through red meat, green-leafy vegetables, vitamin C and iron supplements. I thought I was eating enough of the important things, but I decided to increase it by eating a lot of spinach. Did you know you can blend spinach into almost anything and you can't taste it? It might look like vomit, but it sure doesn't taste like it. So, I have developed some original and tasty smoothies that incorporate spinach. Here's the recipe to my favorite:

Strawberry-Spinach Smoothie Supreme

1/2 c. pineapple juice
1/2 banana
4-5 strawberries, cut up
1 c. crushed ice
2 c. spinach

Blend all of the ingredients, except for the spinach, until smooth. With the blender still running, add spinach in small increments until completely blended. I've never tried it, but you could probably add protein powder if you wanted to make a meal out of it.

I was deferred for 2 weeks, so I'm trying to increase my hematocrit so I can go back.

"Hang on, babies! I'm coming to save you... next week."

* Names have been changed to protect the innocent.