Pure Blood
Stories
Lectionary Tales For The Pulpit
Series IV Cycle C
The following is a discussion about blood -- human blood -- and if you can get over the ick factor and push on through this little article, you'll come out at the end amazed and impressed.
The average human body contains about nine to eleven pints of blood. Lose half of this, and you're dead.
We have long recognized that loss of blood leads to loss of life. That's why our forebears sought diligently for a way to salvage blood or find a substitute for blood. In the mid-seventeenth century, doctors experimented briefly with sheep's blood, injecting it into the bodies of wounded soldiers. Of course, they died, and the practice of animal to human transfusions was quickly dropped. In the late eighteenth century, a man's life was successfully saved when he received a human to human transfusion, but the results of similar experiments were not as positive. It wasn't until the twentieth century that scientists discovered blood types and were able to match donor with recipient in a process that has now become routine.
Good blood has to have five things going for it: First, red cells which carry oxygen to the body; second, plasma to carry nutrients; third, pressure to propel the blood forward thus transporting the other factors to the body; fourth, platelets and clotting factors to plug up a wound; and fifth, white cells to fight off hostile organisms.
Let's say you're in surgery. You can do without the white blood cells -- for a while at least. You can do without the platelets because your body has a temporary oversupply of these to help seal a wound. You can do without pressure because it can be artificially induced. You can do without plasma because it can be replaced.
But you need those red cells that carry oxygen. You've got to have it.
Let's also say your hospital is short of blood. Perhaps a catastrophic event has occurred depleting the supply. Or the country in which you reside, like some African nations, has such a high level of HIV-positive people that not much good blood is available. In this case, the doctor might call for a bag of HBOC, which is short for hemoglobin-based oxygen carrier, which is the generic name for Hemopure, a synthetic fluid made by Biopure of Cambridge, Massachusetts. Think of it as an artificial blood which, in this case, is derived from slaughtered beef -- the source of the hemoglobin.
It's a fast-growing industry. Ten companies are presently plodding through the laborious FDA approval process to get their product to market.
Let's go back to the operating table. Let's say that you've lost a lot of blood, and there's no blood available for a transfusion, and no HBOC at hand either. What to do? Some hospitals have instituted a blood salvage program. The blood that is lost during surgery -- your blood -- is mopped up, sponged up, or caught and wrung out into a stainless steel basin, and then poured into a drip bag and re-introduced into your body. This is where the ick factor comes in. But, hey, it works!
I'm not sure I understand the theology of the blood -- the blood of the Old Testament lamb, or the blood of the New Testament Lamb. What I do know is that the shed blood of Christ is a powerful metaphor that explains to me that the death of Christ, his broken body and shed blood, means that Death has been beaten. My anemic, oxygen-starved soul has been brought back to life. Christ died; I live. Thanks be to God!
The average human body contains about nine to eleven pints of blood. Lose half of this, and you're dead.
We have long recognized that loss of blood leads to loss of life. That's why our forebears sought diligently for a way to salvage blood or find a substitute for blood. In the mid-seventeenth century, doctors experimented briefly with sheep's blood, injecting it into the bodies of wounded soldiers. Of course, they died, and the practice of animal to human transfusions was quickly dropped. In the late eighteenth century, a man's life was successfully saved when he received a human to human transfusion, but the results of similar experiments were not as positive. It wasn't until the twentieth century that scientists discovered blood types and were able to match donor with recipient in a process that has now become routine.
Good blood has to have five things going for it: First, red cells which carry oxygen to the body; second, plasma to carry nutrients; third, pressure to propel the blood forward thus transporting the other factors to the body; fourth, platelets and clotting factors to plug up a wound; and fifth, white cells to fight off hostile organisms.
Let's say you're in surgery. You can do without the white blood cells -- for a while at least. You can do without the platelets because your body has a temporary oversupply of these to help seal a wound. You can do without pressure because it can be artificially induced. You can do without plasma because it can be replaced.
But you need those red cells that carry oxygen. You've got to have it.
Let's also say your hospital is short of blood. Perhaps a catastrophic event has occurred depleting the supply. Or the country in which you reside, like some African nations, has such a high level of HIV-positive people that not much good blood is available. In this case, the doctor might call for a bag of HBOC, which is short for hemoglobin-based oxygen carrier, which is the generic name for Hemopure, a synthetic fluid made by Biopure of Cambridge, Massachusetts. Think of it as an artificial blood which, in this case, is derived from slaughtered beef -- the source of the hemoglobin.
It's a fast-growing industry. Ten companies are presently plodding through the laborious FDA approval process to get their product to market.
Let's go back to the operating table. Let's say that you've lost a lot of blood, and there's no blood available for a transfusion, and no HBOC at hand either. What to do? Some hospitals have instituted a blood salvage program. The blood that is lost during surgery -- your blood -- is mopped up, sponged up, or caught and wrung out into a stainless steel basin, and then poured into a drip bag and re-introduced into your body. This is where the ick factor comes in. But, hey, it works!
I'm not sure I understand the theology of the blood -- the blood of the Old Testament lamb, or the blood of the New Testament Lamb. What I do know is that the shed blood of Christ is a powerful metaphor that explains to me that the death of Christ, his broken body and shed blood, means that Death has been beaten. My anemic, oxygen-starved soul has been brought back to life. Christ died; I live. Thanks be to God!
