Thoughts while driving home from giving my 60th pint of blood ...
Who will get my donation?
Will they live because of it?
I just lost a pound.
Only 31,999 more pints needed in the USA today.
In the time (3 seconds) it took to type this, someone new needs blood.
I just lost 1/10 of my blood volume, why do I feel great?
My blood pressure was great (112/70)
I'm at 7.5 gallons donated.
I'm trying to beat my Uncle Richard.
I hope my cholesterol is okay. (It was ... 190)
I love that apple/strawberry juice they give you.
This lime green armband is just too chic.
They gave me two T-shirts today, how cool is that?
At 7.5 gallons, I have supplied the entire nation's blood supply for 2.5 minutes.
I am now iron low, great excuse for a thick steak.
My bone marrow will replace those donated red blood cells in 3 weeks.
The iron will take longer, but that's a good thing.
That took 15 minutes out of my day.
It didn't hurt.
I'll be back in 56 days.
13 comments:
Yay FC. I have worked up the nerve to donate blood twice. The first time, they told me I was too skinny to give blood. (Geez those were the good old days!) The second time they told me I'd lived too long in Europe during possible mad-cow times. (Those were probably not so much the good old days.)
As far as I know they still have those mad-cow rules but let me know if you hear otherwise and I'll try again. :)
Good for you FC!!! That is quite an accomplishment.
They won't let me give blood either, because I fainted the last time afterwards (not from being afraid of the sight of the stuff either. Some other silly glitch.)
I like your choice of music to prop the elbow on.
I'm a donor, too. :) Will be going in within the next week to lighten my load.
and here's a totally random question...Meyer lemons? Know them? Think I can get a lemon tree to grow up here? It's ridiculous to pay 74 cent for ONE at the WM.
Rurality,
Yup, in the 17,000 questions they ask you before they allow you to donate, they want to know if you lived in Europe during the angry cow years.
ThreeCollie,
It was good of you to try 3C. For me, it's 5 minutes from needle in to needle out, so I see it as an easy way to help out. I understand it's not for everybody. My Katie donates, but my Emma faints too, so she doesn't.
Juli,
Way to go! Sending a virtual pack of LIFESAVERS to you now!
Mel,
Okay, I can handle horticultural questions even in pint low mode.
The Meyer lemon is really cold hardy so you could hardly pick a better lemon cultivar for north Florida. My dad and uncle have several in their yards.
Here's the catch. They are not a very "lemony" lemon.(low acid) Big, but not as tart as you expect a lemon to be.
Good for you FC! I donated a couple times, then got out of it during the pregnancy and nursing years. Now that those days are behind me (I hope!) I really should start donating again. I'm O+, which they really like.
Back in my St. Louis days, I donated all the time. After I moved to Kansas City, I started up again, and I'm somewhere above the two gallon range, though that doesn't include my history in St. Louis, so perhaps I'm double that, but who's counting? Unfortunately I won't be able to donate for at least three months since I've been to Africa recently, but I'll get back in the routine soon.
I think I'm too small to donate blood. And if that's not all together true, then I'm too much of a chicken. I wish I were braver. I'm grateful that there are people like you and the others who donate. Thank you.
Deb,
Oh yeah, O+ is a fine vintage in the blood world.
I'm A+, more like bud.
Pablo,
I'm counting cause it's fascinating to me that we can give such large amounts over time, plus, this may be important brownie points for less positive things in my past ... in an eternal scoreboard sort of way.
Robin,
I was chicken for a long time. I never donated until my mid 20's ... never liked needles.
My daughter and I are both 0-. Sometimes I think that the local blood bank has our phone number on speed dial. This month they gave us beautiful angel ornaments.
Debbie,
And rightfully so :)
Your Katy faints (twice haha), but she's still kickin'. Has she told you lately you're her hero???
I love you. -Bug
I don't know if you can read comments this far back, but I love your blog so I have to go through all the archives.
In answer to your question: I needed 8 pints of donated blood!
I grew up by the beach in Northern California. Fishing with my dad we climbed up and down the steep beach cliff sides. I had been climbing these cliffs since I was a puppy.
Fast foward to 31yrs old. South of San Francisco on a beach named Montara, where I had been up and down this steep cliff many times this time on a sunny Sunday afternoon...my feet slipped.
Next thing I know 30ft drop, a dramatic rescue and I am in the hospital needing whole blood because the body is not made to be smashed on rocks.
Thank you, FC. Those like you saved my life.
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