New #9: Donate Blood

Some of those who know me may be confused by this one; but yes, donating blood is actually a new for me. The confusion comes from the fact that I used to "donate" plasma. In my college days, I "volunteered" for a drug company that would hook me up to a machine, extract the plasma from my blood and pay me some pretty good money for it. There wasn't anything charitable about it, really. They just called it a "donation" so no one had to pay taxes. Sneaky.

So unlike plasma donations, donating blood didn't give me any part of my drawn blood back. I also didn't get any green for my red, if you know what I mean. But the good thing is that my blood won't go into making drugs (i.e. money), but instead right into people who need it. Plus, it was much easier, faster and less sleazy than its fat cat plasma cousin.

The entire blood donation process took less than a hour. It started with a questionnaire that all first-timers need to fill out, basically making sure I don't have any diseases that will be transferred through my blood. I later had to reiterate these Q&A's with a nurse, who also took my blood pressure and a tiny prick of blood from my finger. Besides listing off every foreign city I've visited in the last three years (which, I'm proud to say, was quite a few and took some time), the screening process was pretty easy.

Next, I was whisked off to the donation area. It wasn't very big, just a medium-sized room with about 10 blue, dentist-like chairs, only two of which were occupied. I'd hardly sat down in my own before the nurse came over to stick me. But first, she went into detail about the blood donation ordeal, including the process of how my blood would be taken from the needle in my vein through about six bags that would filtered and do all sorts of fancy blood things to it.

Yet what I found most interesting was the fact that it won't be more than 40 days before someone in town is given my blood that I donated that day. Maybe it is a little creepy, but mainly I think it's awesome my blood will soon be pumping and flowing through someone else's heart and body, helping keep them alive. Maybe I'll pass them on the street someday, and neither one of us will know it, but a little piece of me is always with them. Once again, it's one of those "cheesy but cool" things I'm getting to experience.

And along with helping other people, I learned donating blood benefits the donor, too. For every 2 cups of blood given (which is about the amount taken each draw), a person loses one pound. To make up for that lost pound of blood, the body burns 650 calories in remaking it. How cool is that!? Losing weight AND helping people!

By the time the needle was in my arm (which, no, didn't hurt that much), the draw only took about 10 minutes. It went by so fast, in fact, I even forgot to peak down at the bag of blood to see how much 2 cups really looks like. Maybe it's better that way.

In the end, I was taken to a buffet of sweets that offered everything from Oreos to Cheez-Its to home baked cookies. Fat kid heaven! I settled for a Rice Crispy Treat. While I chowed down, I got to sit with a nice woman who I think was a volunteer assigned to make sure I didn't faint or something. Like everyone else in the place, she was so nice and kept telling me how grateful they were for my donation. And all it cost me was an hour of my time, some blood I won't notice is missing and a tiny prick in my arm. I have to wait two months before I can donate again, but it's definitely something I plan to stick with in the future.