Donating Blood - Don't Read if You Have a Queasy Stomach!!!

This is a post about how I started my day. This morning I woke up (well, technically this afternoon, but who's counting) and ate a breakfast of rice pudding I made sometime yesterday. About the time I decided I should actually go do something productive, I thought to myself, gee, I feel like donating some blood today. I'll go do that. So, I looked up Canada Blood Services, called their number (1-888-2-donate) and made myself an appointment for 3 o'clock today. Next, off I go on my bike (quick random comment - the roads SUCKED today. Sick dirt sludge mania. I'm going to have to spend an hour cleaning my gears and shocks tonight) and stop at the clinic on my way to school. I got there about 45 min early, so I read my brochure thinger, sat down and drank some apple juice. Then I remembered that I forgot to drink lots of water, so I managed to force myself to drink a couple liters of water (I have lowish blood pressure and small veins, so nurses won't take my blood unless I drink a ton of water beforehand to increase my B.P.). The clinic was all decked out in cool Christmas decorations and there was a guy there making balloon animals for everyone. I sat and did some studying til 3, and then I went and answered the questionaire (no, no AIDS or HIV, yes, I feel well, no, I'm not on steroids, etc).
Did you know that if you spend three months (total, not consecutive!!) or more in France/the U.K. since 1980, or five years in Europe you're not eligible to donate? Crazy. There's lots of questions about sex and SARS after that but you're not allowed to answer them by yourself. Then they do a quick hemoglobin test, mine was probably the best it's been in a long time. I think having vitamin C and iron-rich foods together, and not having calcium and iron rich foods together payed off this time! (yes, that's the nutrition geek in me). Next they take you in the "screening room" where they ask you lots of the other questions, take your blood pressure and temperature (you can see the complete list of questions they ask here) and then get you to put a yes or no sticker (basically a barcode) on the page while they're out of the room. This is so if you decide you're blood's not safe you don't have to be worried about backing out, you can still go through and give your blood but it won't be used if the barcode is negative. Anyways, your blood is tested for viral STD's and West Nile regardless every time after they take it, and any positive results are mailed to the donator. All in all, I think it's an effective screening process and Canada's most likely the safest place in the world to recieve blood from or donate blood.
The actual part where I donate's pretty boring. I get nervous when I think about needles, but once I actually see it and they use it, I'm fine. There's only one vein out of both of my arms they ever have actually been able to use and it's super tiny and at a funny angle (hence the drinking of water). Usually they're super cautious when they decide where and at what angle to put it in, but today the RN just kinda pushed it in without feeling my arm for very long, and it was at the wrong angle, and nothing was coming out. So she said "Oh, I'm so sorry. This is going to hurt a bit." and then turned the needle a bit more sideways and pushed it in further. Ouch!! It took about five minutes for them to collect 500 mL (about a coke bottle's worth). Then I have to give up my squeeze ball and just relax in the chair for a few minutes to recover. The first time I donated I ended up getting faint after they pulled the needle out, but I guess that's normal for first-timers. After that I went and had some more apple juice and they gave me a cookie by George (you can also have soup or fruit salad or sandwiches, or other stuff to drink, basically whatever you want, but I wasn't really hungry). So, this was my third time and I got a free pen and little pin. Pretty cool. Except then my arm hurt all afternoon and it was hard to write notes while I was studying. That's the not cool part.
I'm not sure why, but I really love to donate blood and I think everyone else who doesn't have a fear of needles should definitely do the same. The people at the clinics are fabulous, the cookies are wonderful, and the balloons are fun. They treat you really well because they want you to come back with more. lol. That reminds me. I think the logo, or the "catch phrase", for Canadian blood services really sucks - "Blood. It's in you to give." I think that's probably the worst thing ever to try and convince people to donate. It sounds repulsive. Like, we're just little humans out there having our bodies produce biological products for the masses. Makes me think of the Matrix or something.
Well, for anyone that cares to know, my blood type is B+, so I'm one of the rarer types. Not like it really matters, because all of the types have their advantages for donation, for example, if you have O- you might have really good blood cells to use (international donor) but your plasma is only usable with "O" types. And if you have, say, AB+ blood, your blood cells might be harder to give to patients (only other AB+ blood types) but your plasma can be used for anyone. Plasma and blood cells are both really important anyways, but plasma tends to be used a bit more and they have "plasma donators" who donate their plasma only by having their RBC's returned to their body, and that way they can donate more often. Oh yeah, and people without the Rhesus factor ("negative" blood types) also tend to be rarer and women are usually tested to make sure they have the Rh factor when they're pregnant, otherwise if their baby had Rh negative blood it would cause the mother to make antibodies against the Rh factor (unless a vaccination is given after birth) that will attack the next Rh+ baby she has (hemolytic disease in the baby). That's the biology geek coming out in me.
Right, okay I think I've wasted enough of everybody's time!! Good thing I can't donate for another 56 days I think. Going to Calgary tomorrow!! Woo-hoo!! Good night to all, and to all a good night.