September 5th, 2007 |
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Now is the time to donate blood. Find your local donation center and join theWAREHOUSE by making an appointment to help save lives.
It's not easy to get permisison to take photographs of yourself while donating blood at the Red Cross. I guess I can't blame them, but once I had the chance to explain the purpose of this article, the folks at the Red Cross* were wonderfully accommodating. The purpose of this WAREHOUSE article is simple, and I'll tell you right up front: I want you to read about my recent experience donating blood, and I want it to encourage you to join us and donate blood yourself.
Have you always wanted to donate blood but were just curious and scared because you didn't really know what goes on? That's what I keep hearing from people I try to drag along with us. "Oh I'd go but...I've never been." Well, no time like the present. Come along with theWAREHOUSE.
I get to the donation center and meet up with my friends. We know what to expect. We've been doing this for years. It's old hat to us. We read through the information pack they give us every time and then go to wait for the history portion of today's exam.
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I'm always a little bummed by the fact that the longest part of the donation process is the whole history check. Basically it amounts to me sitting in a chair saying "no, no, no, no, no" every single time I go there. They poke you once on the finger for a little initial test. Nowadays they give you a choice between ring finger or middle finger. I asked the phlebotomist (they're not nurses) if some people are really particular, and she said that a lot of husbands choose the middle finger so they can go home and show their wives. Heh.
I look forward to it every couple of months when we're allowed to go back. It can be as much fun as you want it to be. The phlebotomists are almost without exception great conversationalists and have all sorts of crazy stories and anecdotes. Plus they all know that a lot of individuals get nervous around needles and blood - they're very caring people.
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If you freak out about the medical stuff I'm sure you wouldn't even have to look at it. Trust me; they're very accomodating. They really want your blood but they know there's a living, breathing, nervous as heck person bear-hugging it.
Each donation center is a little different. The place I go to with my buddies usually has big TVs and sometimes chairs...sometimes tables. They swap stuff out now and then. During this visit, Rachel Ray was grilling asparagus. That was weird. But there was also a guy in the chair next to me in suspenders. That was sartorially delectable.
I was last in line to get through the history stuff because I was chatting with Francine, the representative from Red Cross the sent down to monitor my photographing, so you get to see pictures of my buddies first before I got in my chair.
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Rock is a humanitarian. Rock is so generous with his lifeblood that he does a double red donation every time he goes. What that means is they hook him up to a special terminator unit that yanks out twice as much blood, separates the good stuff, and puts the plasma back in. It takes a little longer but it's incredibly valuable for the Red Cross. I highly recommend it. I don't do it personally because I get paranoid that I'll have to take a whizz, like, ten minutes into sitting there. But here's Rock, schooling that little vampire robot. See that cocked eyebrow? "Saving lives and chewing gum...and I'm all out of gum."
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You have to gently squeeze your hand throughout the process. It's actually pretty cool if you're nervous because it can help take your mind off it. Just count. I think the count's varied in the years we've been donating, but right now it's "count to five while squeezing, count to five while not squeezing" - if you can do that while laying perfectly still for ten minutes and chatting with friendly phlebotomists, donating blood may be perfect for you.
By the way, yes, it is a little foam blood drop that you get to squeeze. Cute, yeah? Yeah.
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Here's Dave hanging out waiting to be, er, tubed. Or needled. Stuck. Or whatever they call it. You can see that they've marked his arm. They mark where the veins are. Ever wonder if you have wonderful veins? If you do, the staff at the Red Cross donation offices will tell you. Apparently I have freaking great veins. No kidding. At a mobile donation station back at college, I was told by a phlebotomist that I had - I kid you not - "garden hose veins"...all the people I donate blood with are sick of me telling that story.
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Finally, your illustrious author's blood! Don't try and photoshop my DNA out of this. I've gaussian blurred it. No e-cloning me. Anyway, it's really simple. They mark your vein, they swab a patch of your arm with iodine. It's all ridiculously sanitary. The needle insertion itself does not hurt!! I really can't stress that enough. Everyone I try and get to come with us who demures always says they're "afraid of needles" - that's just it. They're not afraid of the pain or anything. Just afraid of the needle. I can understand irrational fears. I'm just saying - it doesn't hurt any more than pressing a ballpoint pen against your arm for half a second. You literally can't even feel it in your arm at all during the donation process.
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Now, a lot of things can affect how long it takes for the donation process overall. DO drink a good amount of water and eat solid meals throughout the day. I weigh every bit of my 250lbs and my diet throughout the day has a very noticeable effect on my donation time. This time took 7 minutes. Last time took 10 minutes. Guess which time I was better hydrated?
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Hey look! It's a sack of my blood! Go and save some lives, blood! Fly forth into various tests and emergency situations! Present your bloody goodness in surgeries and drippy necessities. Make benevolent vampires happy. Really, the Red Cross runs some tests on your blood to make sure it's safe (plus in case you screwed up on the history part earlier), and then it goes basically wherever it's needed. That can be lab tests, surgery situations, emergency situations...you name it. But it's all crucial.
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Sorry I didn't have a better smile going on or a goofy grin or anything. I was having a difficult time trying to hold the camera with one hand while bleeding with the other. I didn't want to bother the phlebotomists to ask them to take a picture...
Come on! Go donate blood! How awesome would it be if the only problem the Red Cross had was too many donors? Or if you really really hate needles or just have a low iron count or you just can't help getting tattoos, volunteer at the front desks and snack stations.
What? Did I just say snack stations?
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Yeah that's right, I said snack stations. After you donate, the Red Cross gives you free juice or water and various cookies and such. If you're watching what you eat, just have water and a couple fig newtons. It's good for you. Plus you get some cool stickers, and sometimes other stuff like tshirts. Of course, you shouldn't be doing this for the cookies and tshirts, but they're there for you.
And that's basically it. We were in and out in an hour, and sent some blood off to save some lives. There aren't many better ways to spend your time. Come on out and donate with us! Get a group of friends together, make an appointment, and go out for dinner afterwards. Donate as part of a date (really!). Remember: when you donate blood at the Red Cross, you make theWAREHOUSE happy.
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FREE TSHIRTS! Alright, here's the deal. I have two shirts for you guys. All you have to do is email me and tell me you're considering giving blood in the future. That's it. I don't need a photo of you at the Red Cross (although that would be rad!) but I want to hear that you want to help. At the end of September, I'll randomly select two people and send out the shirts. So, email me and tell me you're thinking about donating blood if you want a shot at one of these shirts. I have one Large and one XLarge. Please specify which one you'd fit so I know what pool to put you in! Oh and if you want to send pictures of yourself pre-or-post donation that would be rad too; I'll post them here! |
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Update: this is great! I've been getting emails from a bunch of people who've seen the article. I thought I'd share some with you. For privacy reasons I'm not posting any names or other personal information.
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"I've never donated blood before, because I thought some of my recreational habits may inhibit me from donating my much needed a/b neg or whatever...can I get arrested for enjoying a Friday night with smoky friends? Does it affect my blood and their ability to use it?"
Hey! I'm so glad you wrote! If you mean just smoking cigarettes then you're totally fine. And if you mean smoking pot...then you're still totally fine! Seriously, check out these responses from a quick Google search: "Thanks Carl :) I'll start looking out when the donation van comes around..." |
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I ran across your article about giving blood at a perfect time, because I have just signed up to donate blood for the first time. |
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Carl, |
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I am donating in about 50 minutes. |
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I've always thought about doing it, but never have. |
The End
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* This article is not sponsored, officially endorsed, or controlled in any way by the Red Cross. They do not have any editorial control over this. Their involvement begins and ends at the fact that I secured their permission to photograph my recent blood donation visit, and agreed to show this article to them for review technical accuracy. I just think they're a great organization and that a lot of people who could and should be donating blood might benefit from this encouragement.
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