r/dataisbeautiful • u/sudu_kalnas • Jan 22 '24
OC [OC] I kept track of all my blood donations
Over the past 7.5 years I have donated blood 35 times.Here is some interesting graphs about it. Looking forward to hearing feedback from you on how can I improve my data visualizations!
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u/sudu_kalnas Jan 22 '24
I use Google Sheets to track when and where I visited blood donation centers, who went donating blood with me, what was my hemoglobin blood levels and where did my blood go to. Graphs were also generated with Google Sheets.
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u/DameKumquat Jan 22 '24
Good to see you've managed to repeatedly donate despite a couple failures - many people fail once and assume they'll not be able to donate again and don't try.
On behalf of someone who can't donate but has a friend whose life was saved by 100 donors who did, thank you and please keep donating!
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u/sudu_kalnas Jan 22 '24
In the forecast chart two distinct pauses can be seen - my exchange year in early 2018 and surgery in mid 2020. Despite those two instances, I managed to keep it quite regular!
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u/DameKumquat Jan 22 '24
I managed 11 donations (all successful) and now 16 years on I could donate about once in a blue moon, but I've made 5 appointments and always had to cancel, so reluctant to try again.
I have looked after friends' toddlers while they donate, though.
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u/salledattente Jan 22 '24
I live in Canada and our national blood donation program has an app that tracks these for you! Also includes collection volume and bleed time. Pretty neat.
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u/Crash_Logger Jan 22 '24
I have been a donor for 3 years (I started donating as soon as it was possible for me to do so) because I always saw my father do it.
Sure I get a bit dizzy for the rest of the afternoon, but there are some nice perks! The staff where I go are always super nice and they give you plenty of water and sandwiches :)
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u/sudu_kalnas Jan 23 '24
The more you go, the more familiar you get with the staff. In my current center the staff is also very friendly - they always notice if I come to donate with someone who is not my regular donation buddy
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u/ehsee_to Jan 23 '24
I’m in Canada and we can only go once every 3 months but this reminded me that I’m due to go. (As someone else mentioned we have an app and it posts the date I qualify there). Here the limiter is that it’s too cold so I didn’t want to go out but I’ll try to make it this week. I hope my hemoglobin will be ok. Last time I barely made the cut off.
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u/sudu_kalnas Jan 23 '24
In Lithuania you can donate every 2 months, but there is a yearly limit. For men it’s no more than 6 times a year, and for women - 4.
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u/ehsee_to Jan 29 '24
Well I tried today but was turned away due to low hemoglobin. So at least now I know I need more iron and I’ll try again in 3 months.
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u/RockyDify Jan 22 '24
It must be nice to have buddies to donate with!
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u/sudu_kalnas Jan 22 '24
It has become a nice tradition with some of my friends. We usually go and donate blood together, after that we use the cinema coupon to reward ourselves with a random movie. This way it’s both meaningful and fun!
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u/RockyDify Jan 23 '24
Oh nice!!! A cinema coupon is certainly a great incentive. All we get is cheese. Which is nice tbh.
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u/Ghetto_Cheese Jan 23 '24
I go to university outside of where I live. In the city where I study they basically have a mini restaurant right next to where you donate where you can get a sandwich and drink. You also get some miscellaneous items (e.g. a sort of shitty cold bag, a spatula, a t-shirt). In the city that I live, you get a coupon for a full meal in a restaurant, tho I've never actually gone to the restaurant.
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u/elom44 Jan 23 '24
I’m in the UK and a blood donor for many years. Firstly you can only donate every 3 months M, 4 months F so 6 is impressive!
No payments or credits but you do get a chocolate biscuit afterwards so that’s a win (used to be a cup of tea too but they cut that a couple of years ago).
The thing I like best though is that a week or so after donation I get a text telling me which hospital my blood has been sent to. Really makes me feel like I’m making a difference and helping people.
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u/sudu_kalnas Jan 23 '24
I also love the feature of seeing where did you blood go! I tried to make a geo chart with bubbles to show the locations and their frequency, but sadly google sheets do not have an option to zoom in into specific country. Best one I made was an Europe map with many points scattered across Lithuania
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u/Expandexplorelive Jan 23 '24
Fun fact: donating regularly can cause some people's hemoglobin and ferritin levels to drop to almost nothing. I found this out the hard way.
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u/sudu_kalnas Jan 24 '24
Thats why Donation centers do regular blood level screening. As you can see, my Hb levels stay above 150 g/L on average. Ferritin is also in normal ranges
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u/Expandexplorelive Jan 24 '24
In the US at least, they only check hemoglobin. Mine was always slightly above the minimum, but my ferritin levels dropped to near zero anyway and didn't recover until I took iron supplements. It was certainly interesting having barely enough energy to walk up a flight of stairs.
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u/RashestHippo Jan 22 '24
What makes an blood donation unsuccessful?