Transplant Athlete Blog

Transplant Athlete

Thursday, July 28, 2005

My Hematocrit is 36

There is less than a one day supply of "O" negative blood on hand, so I made an appointment with the American Red Cross to donate today. I am type "O" Negative. During the check in process, they tested my hematocrit and it came out at 36%. The minimum for donating blood is 38%. They turned me away and told me to get more iron in my diet. I'm already taking iron supplements, there isn't anything else I can do to fix the problem. I dragged Bruce Deming down to the center to donate, and it hurt that he was able to donate and I wasn't.

I have an appointment with my nephrologist on August 4th. There is no medical reason why my hematocrit should be this low and I'm pretty devastated that they wouldn't let me donate. We'll cover this issue and my blood pressure medicine which doesn't seem to be working. I'll probably also be scheduling a biopsy for the new kidney.

¶ 3:16 PM

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In 1986, doctors discovered that my Kidneys were failing, they gradually got worse until September 25, 2000 when my mother donated a kidney.

After the transplant, I felt like I needed to prove something to myself, so I took a bicycle tour(PACTour) across the US. I've competed at the US and the World Transplant Games as well as in Ultra distance events. My transplant will likely fail in the next couple of months and I'm currently preparing to go on dialysis.

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