054 | Blood
I donated blood today at the downtown Lincoln Community Blood Bank.
I'm Type O+ and I feel guilty every time I walk by the sign, "TYPE O NEEDED," these past few weeks.
So, I finally had a gap in work today and went to do it. (Plus, I can put it on my timesheet as "Civic/Community.")
I did a blood draw study at MDS here in Lincoln a few years back, so I know I can handle needles.
After I filled the pint I got a little lightheaded, but the phlebs/nurses there keep good care of everyone and just had me stay in the recliner with my feet up with a bottle of orange juice. They supply all sorts of juices, cookies, even sandwiches near noon. (A sandwich shop here in town apparently donates sandwiches every day.)
Free shirt, too, because it was my first donation.
I did the full unit (1 pint/500mL, I think) donation.
The whole donation portion takes only 7-10 minutes. Since this was my first donation, I was screened and such, then worked through the lightheadedness; in all, it took about an 85 minutes.
More experienced people can be in an out seemingly in less than a half hour.
This type of donation can be given once every 8 weeks.
Another type of donation removes red blood cells or platelets from your blood and returns plasma and red cells or platelets back to your body. This method takes longer because a cell separator is workin', but I think people avoid the lightheadedness this way.
BUT pt 2, this type of donation can only be given once every 16 weeks.
http://www.don8bld.org/donor/types.asp
The lady next to me had given more than 5 gallons of blood in the past few years.
The 10 gallon milestone seems to be a big thing, as there were photos of parties held there at the Blood Bank with cake and such.
Anyway, we'll see if this turns into a regular thing for me.
\\