Liquid Life
As long as I am an American citizen and American blood runs in these veins, I shall hold myself at liberty to speak, to write, and to publish whatever I please on any subject.
Elija Lovejoy
Lee had an intersting entry about Human Blood that you can read here.
I donate now about every 60 days now. A friend recommended I do it and I did. When they found out I was O negative they about flipped. They kept thanking me for donating but at the time I didn’t understand why. I mean, it’s just blood right?
It’s not though. It can be the difference between life and death for someone, a child maybe.
Besides, for a little while, someone else shares my blood.
Thinking of blood made me think about a time in the Navy. It was during the first week of boot camp when they are giving us our first shots. The day start as always with a really loud recorded bugle, running, breakfast, and then off to a large hall. They lined us up to take shots (those pressure shots in the upper arm.) There were guys lined up, two on one side and three on the other. A gauntlet of ejections so to speak. They gave us the whole speech about not locking your muscles, make sure to rub lightly for a few seconds once it’s done and you will probably be a bit sore tomorrow. Anyway, a guy a few feet in front of me collapsed after the first hiss so I was nominated to carry him thru the line. I picked him up and started to carry him thru, they injected him in the arms so I moved him to the next row. Suddenly there was a hiss on either side of me, and the poor guy hit the floor again. The CC was so pissed at the guys giving shots.
Anyway, the blood link. After the shots they were going to take our blood. They pulled a few people from the recruits who were going into the medical field. The guy I got put the strap on my arm, inserted the needle and then began collecting. He went to pull the strap loose and accidently pulled the needle out of my arm. So thinking quickly he jabbed it back in to try to plug the whole. He missed of course. He was so scared at that point that he wound up dropping and breaking the test tube. So another tech had to draw blood out of the other arm. I don’t know if that guy ever went on to become a medic but if so maybe he was sent out with the marines. (Quick joke, why do medics have a 45 in the bottom of their bags? To shoot the marines who break their legs.)
So you would think that I would be completely against needles but I’m not. They just never bothered me. Nor does seeing my own blood. I guess in a way I just disassociate but it’s for a good cause, right?
Give blood here, you could save a child. it doesn’t take long and it’s relatively painless. They ask a lot of questions but you get free cookies and juice in the end. Besides, MythBusters tested to see if they insert a tracking device and they didn’t.