Getting Through A Young Blood Transfusion

By Marie Stevens


For the majority of its time in existence, human beings were nomadic hunter gatherers. But eventually, society settled down. Many of these early settlements would expand, becoming the seeds from which the great civilizations of antiquity would bloom. Eventually, these great civilizations fell, replaced by modern nation states. In these nation states, people built great cities. First, they used concrete and rock. Then, they fashioned their skyscrapers out of glass and chrome, shining beacons to all the outlying areas. But their cities were not the only thing to change. In twentieth century, as the development of technology hit light speed, so too did medical science. It used to be that when transfusing blood, people were all cavalier about it, just using whatever was on hand. Of course, the young blood transfusion was eventually perfected.

To put in the simplest terms, a blood transfusion is a gift. One individual gives their lifeblood to another individual who needs it. This is something of an oversimplification, but the essence is accurately reflected.

People need blood. Ideally, it never leaves the body. Unfortunately, in some cases, people lose a lot of their life liquid, either through internal or external bleeding. As such, when they lose too much, they are going to need a donation to tide them over until their body produces more of it.

There is a special pump for extracting lifeblood. A donor who has been properly screened will often lie at a relaxing angle, have the needle attached to device stuck into their arm, and then the machine will do its thing and start extracting the plasma. The blood then goes into a bag and is ten slowly introduced into the system of a recipient.

A, B, AB, and O. Under normal circumstances, those are just letter. Largely meaningless without other letters around to support them and form words. But in transfusion, these letters are highly important. Human bodies are each unique unto themselves. The material that flows in those veins however, is a little less special. They can each be classified into four distinct groups, with positive and negative signs attached, based on whether or not it carries a special protein.

Mixing two or more types can be dangerous. A person with type A should receive from other people who are also Type A or people who are O negative, as those individuals are universal donors. A person who is type AB is fortunate enough to be able to receive donations from all types of donors. It is essential to make sure that all types are compatible, as getting it wrong can result in the death of a patient.

There are ways to make sure that only compatible types are used. For one, potential donors are screened and tested beforehand. These donors must are subject to an interview that may or may not get too personal and they must also be in good health at the time of a donation.

A person may be disqualified from donating if they are sick. They can also be disqualified if they have donated very recently. If a person has some kind of disease, like HIV or AIDS, then they will absolutely not be allowed to give blood for fear of spreading their infection.

The human body is a curious thing. To function as designed, it has to have every part. But sometimes, parts can be lost, but a person can give someone a hand and maybe a little extra.




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