Clinic Faces

It’s like riding a bike. Except I was laying down, and I got to read. What I mean to say is that I still haven’t forgotten how to give blood. I put myself on hold for donations since before Beet was born, and today was my first one in over five months. My how times flies.

Not much has changed at that clinic. A lot of the same friendly faces, a lot of the same cookies and juice.

The donation took a little under five minutes. In fact the nurse doing the labelling of the various bags and collection tubes didn’t get to finish before I did.

I had eaten dinner just before going so I didn’t really feel like eating a bunch of cookies, but the volunteers get a little cranky if you don’t follow the rules. I managed to choke back a couple cookies 😉

Drop Superstition

Last night was number 38 for me. The blood donation went smoothly like always. I am actually looking forward to making donation 50. If I go 5 times a year, that is still over a couple years away, and I know I won’t be going 5 times in 2008.

One of the first things the do is test the iron level in the blood. The lady that testing my iron level thought she would have to squeeze my finger a lot to get a decent drop of blood since my hands were so cold. I quipped that I bleed well so it shouldn’t be a problem. Sure enough there was plenty of blood flowing and when she dropped the blood into the copper sulphate, it sank like a stone. That is a good thing.

Recently I’ve started going after eating dinner which hasn’t had any negative effect, other than having less room for cookies. 🙁 One thing that never changes is which arm I donate with. I always, always, always use my left arm. Almost every time I go I have to wait for a bed due to this, but I don’t care. It is almost a superstition, but I have never had a problem so why miss with success?

Barely Cookies

Just got home from the Canadian Blood Services. Number 37 under my belt and again no issues. When I arrived there was barely any line up and I was able to get in and get my iron test in nearly no time.

Once on the donation bed I got through the donation quickly. I was able to read my magazine, and watch the Canucks game while I was donating. Nice. The Canucks were up 2-0 over the Ducks.

At the goodies table I noticed a few changes. The drink choices have changed, and not for the better. I ate some cookies, and relaxed a bit. There are also some changes for first time donaters too.

Anyway, it was a nice relaxing time.

Blood Cycling

Tonight I learned something. It isn’t anything exciting, revealing, or even that important. It barely registers as interesting. Tonight I learned that Ed Bain is also a blood donor.

I had just finished my 36th donation when he came in for his. I was eating cookies (ooh, some new options were available), when he came in and got in line.

Gotta say that he is looking thin and trim. I suppose cycling over 1000 km’s will do that to you.

My donation went extremely well. It flew by and before I knew it I was done and out of there.

Iron Cookies

Even with a busy life I make time for blood donations. One of the longest stretches I went was right after Sprout was born, and that was about 6 months long. This stretch was 2 months long, the normal minimum.

Tonight was my 34th donation. Sailed through it no problem too. The guy who did the iron test commented that the droplet sunk very quickly. Good iron levels are a good thing.

After donating, I skipped the cookies after downing a couple glasses of Iced Tea. I ended up having home made brownies and cookies. Mmmm, much better than Oreo’s and Fudgeo’s.

Letting Minutes

Wednesday I headed off to the Blood Donor clinic for my latest round of blood letting. For the first time ever (I think) I went after eating dinner, and not before. I hoped this would be a good thing.

When filling out the questions I noticed a new one about contact with monkeys. I remembered to ask about that question, and it turns out that there is some ailment you can get from handling monkeys or their waste. That was the first of many changes since I was there last. All of the changes were good too.

The donation itself went quickly (around 5 minutes), and then it was off to cookies and juice after making sure I had stopped bleeding. I was in and out in about 45 minutes.

Donation Boxes

Tonight was blood donation time again. It is funny that every once in a while I notice slight changes in their procedures. This time it was the request to fill in the answer boxes and not just check or x them. Weird. Takes a lot longer to answer the questions that way.

Beyond that everything was as smooth as normal. I stuck with my left arm again more for superstition than anything else. I’ve never had an issue donating with the left so why mess with success. I got the donation bag filled in 5 minutes too.

Screening Pressure

It was a bloody night last night. I had my 31st donation. My next one is Jan 31. It really is easy to keep going once you get in a habit of it. Plus making an appointment, and having a reminder call is awesome too.

Again, no complications at all. The screening nurse commented on my excellent blood pressure. I think I have gotten back to the point where some of the people there recognize me. Not sure why that is cool, but there are few places I can go where they know me by name.

Accomplishment Deep

Tuesday night I completed my 30th blood donation. I have a special donors card that signifies my 25th donation. Every time I take that card from my wallet, I get a renewed sense of accomplishment.

The 30th donation went smoothly. I got in at the right time too. There was a bed ready and waiting for me. By the time I was done, there was a bed lineup several people deep.

I learned something interesting in the recovery area too. One of the volunteers was telling another donor that every unit of blood you donate contains approximately 220 calories. That is another reason they want you to drink the sweet juice and eat some cookies. Don’t mind if I do.