Last night I headed to a blood drive to donate my blood. Not only is a great way to lose a pound (too bad it comes back), but my blood could help save a life! Hopefully I never need someone else's blood, but you never know.
Because of the snow/ bad weather, the Red Cross is having problems getting enough donations this winter. There were a few of us in the room that were donating after work, but I was hoping to see more people.
In law school I always used to try to get classmates to sign up for blood drives…the number one reason people said they didn’t sign up was because they were afraid of needles. I’ll admit, I’m not a HUGE fan of needles, but giving blood doesn’t bother me. Maybe it is because my mom used to take me and my sister to blood drives? Seeing her eat red meat before appointments (she is borderline anemic and sometimes is turned away because she doesn’t have enough iron in her system) and then calmly give blood was just something she did. So to me it is perfectly natural to sit down and have people take blood out of my body.
So as soon as I was old enough to give blood in high school, I signed up. I haven’t always made the smartest choices after giving blood. One blood drive in high school was a few hours before a track meet. I almost passed out after my 200 meter race. Whoops! Nowadays, I give blood and then I wait 12 hours to exercise. :-)
As usual, last night I “competed” against the other donors to make sure that I filled my bag the fastest. Even faster than some people that started before me! Go me?!? My competitive streak is a sickness, a sickness I tell you. I mean, who “competes” to bleed faster than other people in the room???? (The person helping me said that if you drink a lot of water, you donate faster. I do drink a lot of water….)
Do you give blood?
5 comments:
When I was a kid, my mom experienced a hemorrhage after a procedure (she had left the dr's office and was picking my brother up from school), and the blood transfusions she got saved her life.
Last time I gave blood was during a blood drive at work and a co-worker and I were sitting next to one another, racing to see who could fill up the bag faster. It was driving our nurse NUTS, she told us she was going to be pissed if one of us passed out on her. :)
Luca received tons of blood while hospitalized. Both during surgeries, between surgeries, and after surgeries. I commend you for donating! Thanks to donations, she is alive! (I wish I could give blood - not allowed to.)
Starting in highschool and all the way through college I 'tried' to give blood every time there was a blood drive nearby. Sadly, only about 5 times was I actually able to donate due to my anemia. After college I gave up trying but since having a physical a couple weeks ago and being "anemia free" (if that's even a word) I tend to try again soon.
I've given blood twice--and both times, I've either passed out cold 30 minutes after leaving or come so close that my assistant had to help me lay down in my cubicle. Ahem.
So I've been told no more donating blood, which makes me very very sad as it's SUCH an easy way to help out your community. Or it would be, if I weren't so apparently weak!
My step-brother died of leukemia in 2003 and one of my dreams was to one day donate bone marrow.
My first step was to go two years without getting a new tattoo or piercing, which, trust me, took a lot of effort. Then I had to donate blood and indicate I would be willing to donate bone marrow.
Until I received my test results back from that first donation, stating I had test false-positive for Hep A.
Meaning I had markers, but did not actually have the disease.
Since I have tested falsely positive, Canadian Blood Services has informed me that I will never, ever, be allowed to donate blood, plasma, or marrow.
I totally understand that they can't take any risks, after the blood scare that occurred here in the 80s, but it pretty much broke my heart that I couldn't help out in this way, since I have zero dollars I can donate.
Post a Comment