This isn’t a cheesy Twilight rip off – nah, I’m talking about nurses – and they want your blood too!
The lovely people at the Red Cross Blood Banks all around Australia may sound like vampires – but they’re actually great – and I can say that with 100% confidence! Today I gave my 45th donation and after starting on whole blood when I was 17, I moved on to plasma a couple of years ago. I’m not here to tell you all the facts – because I certainly don’t know them and if you wanted them, I’m sure you could find them all at the blood bank website – what I want to share is my quick tale of how easy blood donation is and why I do it! So at the moment I donate plasma (and slot some whole blood donations in every few times) and I can donate plasma every two weeks. You certainly don’t need to donate so regularly though! I’ve got type O- blood, which for some crazy reason means that these Red Cross people LOVE me (at least someone does…!) which is why I’ll sometimes throw in a whole blood donation. I pop in on Saturday mornings as I work during the week, I park in the city, as the blood bank provide parking vouchers to cover my time there and then I stroll in. The whole process is pretty relaxed – a quick survey and interview and then I’m in the chair. Now I’m not afraid of needles but I can say with full certainty that I won’t watch the needle go in – not that I can really feel it anyways! Once I’m all hooked up the lovely staff treat my like a princess! Would I like a drink? Yes please, orange juice! Something to read? Why yes, a trashy magazine if you will! When I’m doing plasma, I’ll usually make it through a couple of issues of Famous Magazine (and they’re usually pretty current – score!) but when it comes to blood, I can be done in less than 15 minutes! After it’s all wrapped up (pretty quickly), it’s time to treat myself! Cheese and crackers? Yes please! I’ll also have a mini mars bar if you don’t mind. If neither of those tickle your fancy, don’t worry, there are plenty more snacks to choose from! I love that these awesome people actually encourage me to sit down and eat – most would do the opposite, but not these champs! The best bit comes next; I leave the blood bank knowing that with only a little bit of my time, I have helped to save three lives. Sometimes I think that the knowledge of this gets to my head (as I walk down the streets and expect to be praised and thanked) but most of the time I’m just happy that I was able to help. Here’s the thing though – here in Australia, our medical system still sources blood from overseas. We need at least 17,000 more regular donors to sustain ourselves – so why not give it a go? If you’ve go any questions (because I’m sure you do!) just give me a shout!
Having type O- blood means you’re universally compatible – your blood can be given to someone with type A, B, AB or O blood, as opposed to me, who can only give to people in the A range (although I like to think that my A+ blood means full marks).
I have a genuine phobia of needles. I once donated blood to try and face that fear head on and I was pretty proud of myself afterwards. But I haven’t been able to bring myself to go back 😛
Yeah I knew it was universal (because it means I am awesome!) Yay for you at least trying to overcome your phobia! You can always join me if you ever want to try again!
You’ll have to be more forceful if you’re going to convince me to go through it again 😉