Thumper
12-31-2020, 11:58 AM
Lynn and I are both regular blood donors and have been for many years. We donate every other month (the waiting period between donations is 8-weeks).
Well, we're both eligible to donate again as of today, so yesterday we went on-line to make appointments to donate this Saturday. My appointment was confirmed, but Lynn's was "blocked" and said she was listed as a "permanent deferral'! WTF? We had no clue what that meant, so we googled it.
Permanent Deferral
A designation applied to a blood donor who, for one or more of a variety of reasons, will NEVER be allowed to donate blood .... donors to which a permanent deferral is applied are not expected to EVER regain eligibility, even if rules or testing technologies change. Examples of permanent deferrals include donors taking the medication Tegison (etretinate), those with a confirmed positive test for hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg), and donors with reactive nucleic acid tests for hepatitis C virus or HIV during re-entry testing.
Ummm, TO OUR KNOWLEDGE .... none of those apply! Now she's worried that they've found something she's not aware of. Yesterday morning, we called the blood bank to get a clarification, but due to "high call volume", we had to leave a message. On the message, Lynn mentioned her concern and asked to please be called back asap. It's been 24-hours now and so far, nuttin'! She's going to call back this morning to see if she can find out WTF is going on. Man, we don't know if she needs to make a doctor's appointment, rush to the ER or what. Weird, no explanation whatsoever other than "You are permanently deferred!"
We're in a slight panic here as we have no clue what they found, or if the whole thing is a mistake. If it's a mistake, how TF are we supposed to straighten it out? Pay for a frigging private doctor to check for all of the above so we can continue to DONATE blood? This is really weird. If she tested positive for HIV, she's got some 'splainin' to do! Ha! :hair
Well, we're both eligible to donate again as of today, so yesterday we went on-line to make appointments to donate this Saturday. My appointment was confirmed, but Lynn's was "blocked" and said she was listed as a "permanent deferral'! WTF? We had no clue what that meant, so we googled it.
Permanent Deferral
A designation applied to a blood donor who, for one or more of a variety of reasons, will NEVER be allowed to donate blood .... donors to which a permanent deferral is applied are not expected to EVER regain eligibility, even if rules or testing technologies change. Examples of permanent deferrals include donors taking the medication Tegison (etretinate), those with a confirmed positive test for hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg), and donors with reactive nucleic acid tests for hepatitis C virus or HIV during re-entry testing.
Ummm, TO OUR KNOWLEDGE .... none of those apply! Now she's worried that they've found something she's not aware of. Yesterday morning, we called the blood bank to get a clarification, but due to "high call volume", we had to leave a message. On the message, Lynn mentioned her concern and asked to please be called back asap. It's been 24-hours now and so far, nuttin'! She's going to call back this morning to see if she can find out WTF is going on. Man, we don't know if she needs to make a doctor's appointment, rush to the ER or what. Weird, no explanation whatsoever other than "You are permanently deferred!"
We're in a slight panic here as we have no clue what they found, or if the whole thing is a mistake. If it's a mistake, how TF are we supposed to straighten it out? Pay for a frigging private doctor to check for all of the above so we can continue to DONATE blood? This is really weird. If she tested positive for HIV, she's got some 'splainin' to do! Ha! :hair