Afterwards, I felt tired (not uncommon) and slightly nauseous (also not uncommon). So I ate the OREOs and drank the diet coke they gave me and headed on my way. I felt crummy for the next two days and figured I had caught the funk that was going around. By day three I was completely back to normal and thought nothing of it.
A month later I recieved a rather bulky letter in the mail from the American Red Cross. The art of being subtle is lost on whoever wrote this letter:
"Dear Ms. Ciarkowski,
Your recently blood donation tested positive for the West Nile Virus. Please see your doctor immediately if you are experiencing symptoms.
Sincerely,
The American Red Cross"
The rest of the paperwork went on to explain the measures they take to test the blood, what they test for, how they determine if blood is reactive, etc. The last page then informed me that I was now Blacklisted from donating and to please not attempt to donate blood at any upcoming drives.
Now this was all quite humerous, because really what are the chances of catching West Nile in Birmingham, AL. Turns out the Birmingham evening news had the answer. Five cases of West Nile were reported in the state, one in Birmingham. Thankfully they didn't name names, but word got around and I got many a phone call and email from people saying they heard about me on the news. All friends of course, no crazy random people.
I had to wait 120 days and then I went to the local Red Cross Chapter office to be re-tested. They said they would let me know. It was no surprise that they in fact never got back to me. About the time I started thinking about it was the time I was sent to the hospital, so the Red Cross went to the back burner.
After recieving a blood transfusion you have to wait a minimum of one year to donate blood again. I guess they figure if you needed it, you need it, and they shouldn't be taking it from you. A year to the day after my discharge we had a bone marrow donor sign up group on campus. I went ahead and signed up, but once they heard TTP they said "no way." Which got me thinking about the Red Cross again.
I tried called the local office. No answer. Left a message. Called the regional support person. Number disconnected. Visited the website. Sent an email to the regional office. No response.
So next month Campus Restaurants is hosting a blood drive on campus and I wanted to be able to donate blood. I got the donor resource number from the representative we have been working with. After being on hold for 15 minutes I was told there was nothing they could see that would prevent me from donating and that I needed to go to my local Red Cross and ask them. At that point I got a tad perturbed and may have said something along the lines of "no wonder people weren't donating if this is how they treated donors." I was forwarded up the chain.
I finally got to talk to a donation counselor. Who informed me I am still on the Blacklist because when they tested my sample back in 08 it was still reactive to the West Nile. Now I personally thought that would have been great to know back in 08, but who am I. So now someone is supposed to be getting in touch with me to set up another sample time. We will see if I ever get back in the Red Cross's good graces.
