Got Blood?

Canada Blood Services doesn't suck anymore, unless you mean suck blood in which case they do. Tracie and I went in this morning and donated half a liter each. Since my heart blood are so much better than Tracie's I was pretty much passing out from blood loss before she even had the hint of a needle.

Towards the end of my donation, I asked the nurse how much longer it would be. (I could tell that things were going downhill fast) She said, "Two seconds." I figured that meant she was in the process of cutting off the blood flow and that I would be unhooked stat. What she meant to say was, "Another minute or so". In any case the two seconds passed in about two seconds and then after another ten or so I started getting really sick to my stomach and really light headed. The temperature in the room started rising.

Luckily the nurses at Canadian Blood Services are really on the ball. They quickly rushed over some cold moist towels and draped them over my head and arms, as well as turning on a fan. One of them said something to me, but I was in too much of a daze to understand what she said and I had to get her to repeat it and really concentrate on what she was saying. I don't really remember what she said though. It really surprised me how fast getting cooled off like that made me feel better. In fact, I had polished off a few cookies, some OJ, and half a coke before Tracie was done, and she didn't almost die from blood loss.

People need blood so go ahead and take and hour out of your day to donate some.

-Gary Milner

Ps. If Tracie contradicts anything in this post, you probably shouldn't believe her.