15 + 3 points
Donate a Pint of Blood by W F
June 24th, 2006 5:58 PM
This turned out to be quick and relatively painless. (I've had blood taken at the doctor's office before, but have never donated.) I walked into Blood Centers of the Pacific (Turk & Masonic) this afternoon and told them I wanted to donate.
The first step was to complete a rather lengthy questionnaire. Everything from "have you had any aspirin in the last 36 hours" (I had, but I guess it wasn't disqualifying) to "have you ever been to Africa" (I haven't). You go through an interview about your answers, and then your temperature, pulse, blood pressure are taken and a drop of blood is drawn from your finger to test for anemia. Apparently it's really important to be well-hydrated before giving blood - I was sent to the snack bar for a cup of water after mentioning that I hadn't had any fluids since earlier in the day.
Paperwork, tests, and hydration completed, I sat down in the reclining chair and tried to act nonchalant as I watched the very friendly nurse prepare all the tubes and equipment. (All of the staff there were friendly and efficient.) Despite having spent many hours watching surgeries on the Discovery Health Channel, I couldn't bring myself to watch as she inserted the needle into my arm. A needle should be less scary that a scapel, so I don't know whether it's the difference of seeing it in person versus on TV, or if it's the fact that it was my own skin being punctured that made me uncomfortable.
It didn't take very long to fill the bag, then out came the needle and I sat there for a few minutes to make sure I wasn't going to pass out. Back to the snack bar I went; there are signs everywhere saying that California law requires you to remain on-site for at least 15 minutes after donating.
Turns out there's a good basis for that. I felt fine immediately afterwards, but within about 10 minutes I did start to get light-headed. Back into the reclining chair for me, along with another glass of water and a cool, damp paper towel for my forehead. A few minutes later I once again felt OK and have been fine since.
Worth doing? Yup. Would I do it again? Sure. It was a fine way to kill a few hours on a Saturday afternoon.
The first step was to complete a rather lengthy questionnaire. Everything from "have you had any aspirin in the last 36 hours" (I had, but I guess it wasn't disqualifying) to "have you ever been to Africa" (I haven't). You go through an interview about your answers, and then your temperature, pulse, blood pressure are taken and a drop of blood is drawn from your finger to test for anemia. Apparently it's really important to be well-hydrated before giving blood - I was sent to the snack bar for a cup of water after mentioning that I hadn't had any fluids since earlier in the day.
Paperwork, tests, and hydration completed, I sat down in the reclining chair and tried to act nonchalant as I watched the very friendly nurse prepare all the tubes and equipment. (All of the staff there were friendly and efficient.) Despite having spent many hours watching surgeries on the Discovery Health Channel, I couldn't bring myself to watch as she inserted the needle into my arm. A needle should be less scary that a scapel, so I don't know whether it's the difference of seeing it in person versus on TV, or if it's the fact that it was my own skin being punctured that made me uncomfortable.
It didn't take very long to fill the bag, then out came the needle and I sat there for a few minutes to make sure I wasn't going to pass out. Back to the snack bar I went; there are signs everywhere saying that California law requires you to remain on-site for at least 15 minutes after donating.
Turns out there's a good basis for that. I felt fine immediately afterwards, but within about 10 minutes I did start to get light-headed. Back into the reclining chair for me, along with another glass of water and a cool, damp paper towel for my forehead. A few minutes later I once again felt OK and have been fine since.
Worth doing? Yup. Would I do it again? Sure. It was a fine way to kill a few hours on a Saturday afternoon.
