By Freda Rumford from the March 2010 Edition
Recently we were advised my husband needed a blood transfusion and there was none of his blood type available in the blood vault, would we please therefore arrange for potential donors to be available on the next working day! This being New Year and a long weekend it was three days before we could achieve this but achieve it we did.
At 7 a.m. we presented ourselves at the laboratory as requested, with our four very willing donors arriving at 8 a.m. The only person they drew blood from within the next hour was from the donee, squawking loudly that he was there to receive not give! No matter, samples had to be taken and we waited again for yet another hour before two of our would-be donors were called for history and the other two advised that they could now leave. A bit stunned we watched as they left, envying their freedom to get the coffee that everyone else (on fasting) was dying to have.
Another hour goes by before yet another technician arrived to take histories once again. This time, one of our friends was accepted, the second worked right down the list of questions to be eliminated on the very last one, which probably should have been one of the first – age. The techie asked where were the other donors we were supposed to have as back up as he needed one more long gone was the litany. Fortunately, the one was deemed a perfect match and within 15 minutes the pint of blood was taken, we were off the hook until the next appointment of 3 p.m. for the transfusion. To breakfast at last! Eventually the transfusion was given, after much more malarkey, argument and standing our ground for another 2 hours but it did take 4 ½ hours to complete the procedure, meaning that we were at the hospital from 7 a.m. until 11.p.m. with only one meal all day.
My advice to anyone who has to go through the system (which does work howbeit not what we are used to) is to go prepared for a long day, take a good book and relax. Stick to your guns, if you have been told this procedure is required and all has been completed as requested, do not allow someone to side track you and say it isn’t necessary. It seems that there are a lot of little kingdoms within the IMMS system and it is necessary to be patient, be cool and be firm.
The four key words with dealing with hospitals here are patience, perseverance, persistence and persuasion, use all four continuously as required. There is no blood bank as such, although blood is available in an emergency, so donors will be asked for. A list of requirements for donors is in this E-Magazine, Keep in with other medical papers.
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Most knew her as Freda Rumford. Freda Anne Vickery was a founder, editor, and contributor of the Manzanillo Sun magazine. She was one of the founders and, took over being President of the Manzamigos, when her husband Nigel, died. When she first came to Manzanillo, she got a job writing for the Guadalajara Reporter and used that as a foundation for her later humanities work. Freda was born in the East side of London in 1934 but grew up in Norwich. Freda’s early life was one of overcoming things. As an example, she was born with a lisp but one of her first jobs was being a telephone operator after some extensive elocution lessons. She met and married a young military man and, like so many others, they and their children moved to Canada for his employment opportunities and she ended up working for the Hudson’s Bay Company in cosmetic sales in Calgary. They moved to BC and then to Manzanillo, for her health, which flourished in the tropical weather. After Nigel died, she later married Kirby Vickery. She later became ill and finally lost the battle with cancer on the 27th of February 2016.
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