Mammals
I wound up with an appointment at the Red Cross this afternoon. See, I finally got around to giving blood last November (for several years prior, I’d managed to have a cold every time they came on campus), and now I’m on their list. And since I’m B-negative, I’m on the Extra Special List. I can now expect to get a phone call every other month that goes something like this:
“Did you know California is currently experiencing a severe shortage of donor blood?”
“Er, I didn’t know that.”
“And did you know that B-negative is the rarest blood type?”
“Huh, I didn’t know that either.” (ok, this part I won’t be able to use again)
“And that it’s now been more than 45 days since you last gave blood?”
“Yeah, that sounds about right…”
“Great, so, when can we schedule an appointment for you? Is tomorrow good?”
Since I really have no excuse NOT to give blood as often as possible, and in fact rather enjoy the excuse to scarf down some cookies and skip going to the gym for a day, I’m pretty much a sucker for this sort of mild guilt trip.
My bloodletting was uneventful as always, although I really think I could have bled faster with a little more effort. It took me a record 7 minutes this time to fill a bag – that’s hardly enough to qualify as the champion gusher I know I really am.
I had a bit of a gross-out moment while the nurse was taking everything out of my arm. I suddenly felt something rather warm – actually, pretty darn hot – against my hand. Puzzled, it took me much longer than it should have to realize that the tubes coming off the blood bag, themselves full of blood, were hot. I was feeling the heat of MY OWN BLOOD.
I don’t know why I found this disturbing, or even surprising – I mean, what did I think “warm-blooded mammal” meant? Part of my brain must have assumed that blood just defies the laws of physics and instantly cools upon leaving the body, or that the surgical tubing has some sort of magical insulating powers.
Anyway, I shook off my discomfort with a very cool exclamation along the lines of “Oh! That’s hot! I guess that makes sense, right? I mean, it is blood.” The nurse nodded and smiled like she’d heard this dozens of times (no doubt she has), and continued wrapping up the bag and tubing into a big pile of warm rubber.
Hey Anna!
Good for you for donating blood! It’s good that you’re a “gusher”. At the hospital, the nurses poked me three times before admitting defeat and taking blood from my IV line. :)
— Kathy
Comment by Kathy Brantley — 3/7/2006 @ 2:47 pm
That, and then it was a real chore to draw 5 *vials* — they literally gave up and bailed at 4, as I recall.
Comment by Ben — 3/7/2006 @ 11:44 pm
I recently had a cardiac echo, kind of like a ultasound of your heart. I was disturbed, more than disturbed, I was CREEPED OUT to actually see my heart pumping on the screen. I mean I know it pumps, it pumps all the time, but you just never really think about it ya know? I had a crazed panic moment of thinking “What if I actually see my heart stop?” Or even worse, “What if I see it do some crazy shit like skip a whole bunch of beats?” So I can sympathize about the blood thing.
Comment by Cookie — 3/8/2006 @ 2:28 am
Ahhh, eww, I know, that actually totally disturbed me when I gave blood, too. I just didn’t like the reminder that it was leaving my body, yuck. I’m not a big fan of the whole needle / blood exiting the arm thing in general.
Comment by Sam — 3/15/2006 @ 12:43 am
PS – But kudos for doing it – someone out there is very grateful : )
Comment by Sam — 3/15/2006 @ 12:43 am
Hey, cool, I’m B-negative too! Good for you for donating — I’m like 3 months overdue and feeling guilty about it…
Comment by Mir — 3/23/2006 @ 9:18 pm