wherein Liz gives blood
Jan. 31st, 2014 11:49 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
edenfallingToday I gave blood!
I haven't done that in ages. The last donation for which I have a concrete record was February 2005, nearly nine years ago. I am fairly sure I donated once after that -- I have a vague memory that I once gave blood at Cornell around noonish and then worked 4-9pm at the smoke shop the same day, and I wasn't hired there until January 2006 -- but I wasn't in the Red Cross's computer records so that incident certainly wasn't recent.
Anyway, the problem with donating blood is that most local blood drives are either up on the Cornell or IC campuses, or out in the suburban-ish outskirts of Ithaca, rather than downtown where I can easily get to them. Also, I tend to forget to stalk the Red Cross website to find when and where blood drives are being held. But! My church has started hosting blood drives -- today's was the second, and since they have gone well thus far, it looks like the pattern will continue -- which means they advertised in the church newsletter, and I had the day off from work, so yay!
It took longer than it really ought to have done, which was partly because I think they were slightly understaffed toward the end of the afternoon and partly because the person in charge of hooking up my bag and needles was kind of unsure what she was doing and probably stuck the needle in a bit wrong given that my blood flow was noticeably slower than it should have been, but it all worked out in the end.
I started giving blood pretty much as soon as I was able, back in high school, and continued the habit through my years living on or near the Cornell campus. It wasn't a huge part of my identity, but it was always something that made me feel good. I also turned my mom onto being a blood doner, which she kept up long after circumstances made it inconvenient for me to get to blood drives, not to mention I was turned down a couple times for being too anemic. (Which doesn't mean I had actual medical anemia, just that the Red Cross likes to make sure their blood units have lots and lots of wonderful red blood cells and I was kind of borderline for a while around 2004-2006 because I had cruddy eating habits. Which may or may not have been related to my depression and the instability of my employment/education status, but who can really say.) But my mom can't donate anymore since she's on blood thinners for a medical condition, and I've been feeling that I ought to pick up the slack, so to speak.
It's not a hugely logical reaction, but you know, the end result is that blood gets donated and I feel good, so eh, whatever. And now the Red Cross has my email, so hopefully I will be notified of future blood drives without having to stalk their website or rely on church newsletters. :-)
I haven't done that in ages. The last donation for which I have a concrete record was February 2005, nearly nine years ago. I am fairly sure I donated once after that -- I have a vague memory that I once gave blood at Cornell around noonish and then worked 4-9pm at the smoke shop the same day, and I wasn't hired there until January 2006 -- but I wasn't in the Red Cross's computer records so that incident certainly wasn't recent.
Anyway, the problem with donating blood is that most local blood drives are either up on the Cornell or IC campuses, or out in the suburban-ish outskirts of Ithaca, rather than downtown where I can easily get to them. Also, I tend to forget to stalk the Red Cross website to find when and where blood drives are being held. But! My church has started hosting blood drives -- today's was the second, and since they have gone well thus far, it looks like the pattern will continue -- which means they advertised in the church newsletter, and I had the day off from work, so yay!
It took longer than it really ought to have done, which was partly because I think they were slightly understaffed toward the end of the afternoon and partly because the person in charge of hooking up my bag and needles was kind of unsure what she was doing and probably stuck the needle in a bit wrong given that my blood flow was noticeably slower than it should have been, but it all worked out in the end.
I started giving blood pretty much as soon as I was able, back in high school, and continued the habit through my years living on or near the Cornell campus. It wasn't a huge part of my identity, but it was always something that made me feel good. I also turned my mom onto being a blood doner, which she kept up long after circumstances made it inconvenient for me to get to blood drives, not to mention I was turned down a couple times for being too anemic. (Which doesn't mean I had actual medical anemia, just that the Red Cross likes to make sure their blood units have lots and lots of wonderful red blood cells and I was kind of borderline for a while around 2004-2006 because I had cruddy eating habits. Which may or may not have been related to my depression and the instability of my employment/education status, but who can really say.) But my mom can't donate anymore since she's on blood thinners for a medical condition, and I've been feeling that I ought to pick up the slack, so to speak.
It's not a hugely logical reaction, but you know, the end result is that blood gets donated and I feel good, so eh, whatever. And now the Red Cross has my email, so hopefully I will be notified of future blood drives without having to stalk their website or rely on church newsletters. :-)
(no subject)
Date: 2014-02-01 04:23 pm (UTC)The local staff are horrible; every time I've gone to a drive in town I've ended up with black-and-blue marks the size of my palm. They never find the vein on the first try and they never listen to me about which vein to try. I have one that's easy to find but rolls, and one that's harder but easy to stick, or so they tell me, and I ususally open with "I've been told I should always warn anyone trying to stick me to take from here even if it looks harder..." Usually they smile, poke, look dubious, stick me and then go "oh, that is nice." The local group goes "oh no, that's much too deep" and then try for the other one four or five times. Arrrrgh.
I wish I could go back to giving again regularly. For one thing, I think I ate better when I knew I'd be donating soon.
(no subject)
Date: 2014-02-01 08:17 pm (UTC)I'm sorry to hear your local staff are so inconsiderate. Perhaps you could try just not rolling up your sleeve on the arm with the deceptively good-looking vein, and saying, firmly, "I'm using this arm today" when you offer the one with the deeper but good vein. I have easy veins in both arms, but I only donate from my left arm since I'm right-handed and it's less awkward to have my left arm's motion slightly restricted by the bulky bandages the Red Cross uses. This occasionally requires turning around on a cot when they've started to set up with the assumption of using my right arm, but I've never had anyone outright argue with me over it.
(no subject)
Date: 2014-02-01 08:33 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2014-02-02 02:43 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2014-02-01 04:49 pm (UTC)*remembers that the xanax lowers her blood pressure right back down to "my bp unit says you're not alive, sorry but no" levels and sighs*
Sometimes you just can't win.
(no subject)
Date: 2014-02-01 08:20 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2014-02-01 09:15 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2014-02-02 02:48 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2014-02-02 02:54 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2014-02-02 05:54 am (UTC)It must be very frustrating not to be able to give blood -- I assume malaria is one of those things that can linger in the bloodstream? Or is the Red Cross simply worried about antibodies?
(no subject)
Date: 2014-02-02 08:57 am (UTC)But it doesn't compare with knowing the whole blood is being useful. (sigh)
(Your refreshments sound excellent!)