Comments on: Diving for beaters.

By: Catherine

Catherine — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 21:40:18 +0000

Yes to both Rana and Deborah, the Rh factor is independent of the blood type, and the danger is to subsequent pregnancies. The A-O incompatibility is different, and affects an A baby with an O mother. Jes’ bringing it up as another wierd mother-baby blood thing.

By: Rana

Rana — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 16:52:11 +0000

Deborah – you have it basically correct. If a negative mother has a positive embryo/fetus, her body gets sensitized by it and develops antibodies against the positive blood markers. Any subsequent positive embryo/fetus would be attacked by those antibodies. So the first positive pregnancy’s okay; it’s subsequent ones that are at risk, unless they give the mother Rhogam to counter-act the antibody formation. (I don’t know where miscarriages fit into all this; I would assume that those pregnancies would count as well, if the embryo were positive.) It wouldn’t run the other way (neg fetus, pos mother), in that the fetus isn’t being sensitized by the mother in the same way. (I don’t believe, anyway – I’m not a doctor, just an Rh-neg woman who has an interest in this.)

By: Jolene

Jolene — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 14:43:56 +0000

No, both Chapur’s children are boys, ages 15 and 19. And she’s only 42. Unlikely, she’d have a daughter in her mid-20s, which is what the younger woman appears to be. Also, the two women’s eyes are different in ways unrelated to age or cosmetics.

Will be interested to see what Dexter has to say about where he found the photo he linked to.

Also, a correction re when the video was made: An article I just looked at said she was reporting from NYC “in the aftermath” of 9/11, and another said it was the one-month anniversary of 9/11.

By: James

James — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 14:17:11 +0000

Jolene and Dexter:

I think you’re both right. It looks like the same woman (same hair part, face shape and bone structure, anyway). Maybe it’s her daughter…

By: Deborah

Deborah — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 14:11:46 +0000

Catherine, the way it was explained to me is that it is a positive negative incompatibility not an A/O problem. If the mother has negative anything and the child has positive anything (or vice versa I think?) there is a risk for the next pregnancy after that one. But this was explained 34 years ago when my daughter was born so I may not be remembering it correctly.

By: Jeff (the mild-mannered one)

Jeff (the mild-mannered one) — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 14:05:58 +0000

Lex — Red Cross doesn’t maintain a national database, which strikes me and everyone i’ve ever asked as quite peculiar, but has long been the case. So my near 12 gallons total is a number only i have, since i’ve given in West Lafayette, IN; Indianapolis; Quantico, VA; Charlotte, NC; Chicago, IL; central Ohio (multiple locations, but all one “chapter”); Pittsburgh, PA; and Fairmont, WV. None of those “count” the others, and if you give to a non-ARC blood bank, that’s a different registry as well, but they all are usually happy to tally whatever you tell them and hand over the pin . . . where i live now, i got sent in the mail a 3 gallon pin and an invitation to a “regular donor dinner” that i went to, thinking (correctly) i could get a column out of it.

Next to me, a fellow who had given since Pearl Harbor, was quite annoyed that they were recognizing him for 11 gallons donated because he knew darn good and well he’d given 46; the conversation when the ARC director came by our table was rather amusing, but instructive.

And if you don’t give in any one area for a couple of years, they scrub you off the database.

By: Lex

Lex — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 13:54:06 +0000

[[Today the woman in the canteen ordered me to eat a second snack, so I could stay the full 10 minutes, and ARMS ON THE TABLE WHERE I CAN SEE THAT BAND-AID, PLEASE.]]

When I exsanguinated on Wednesday, I wasn’t going to stay long, but then underneath all the granola bars and boxes of raisins, I found HONEY BUNS!! So I deigned to remain a few extra minutes. As is well known, calories consumed during exsanguination don’t count.

This did not, however, prevent the clot from popping out of the puncture site a few hours later while I was in the grocery store. First time in 30+ years of donating (and various other blood-test-type puncturing) that I’d ever had that happen. I had blood down my left arm all the way to my fingers and had begun getting strange looks from cashiers & other shoppers before I noticed. The Bloodmobile was right there in the parking lot, though, so at least no one thought I was lying about the cause.

I’m also very unhappy with the Red Cross. As I say, I’ve been giving blood a long time, but somehow all my records disappeared, so according to them, I’ve only given twice in my life. I think someone put me in the Witness Protection Program when I wasn’t paying attention.

Happy Fourth, all.

By: Jolene

Jolene — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 05:10:15 +0000

I don't think so, Dexter, unless this picture was taken a long time ago. The woman, Maria Belen Chapur, is 42 years old and has had two kids. Here she is, broadcasting from NY on 9/11. Also very beautiful, though.

By: Dexter

Dexter — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 04:58:02 +0000

I am bored with this sanford thing, but here’s his chick:

http://www.inmodelsagency.com/yahoo_site_admin/assets/images/Maria_Bel%C3%A9n_Mu%C3%B1oz2.223155642_std.jpg

I ain’t bored no more!

By: Dexter

Dexter — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 04:53:19 +0000

ha! Those comments at jalopnik were hilarious!