h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

My blood type (O-) is rather useful to them, too - I've been meaning to donate since I was 18, and every time I try, something happens that means I can't

Congrats! You must feel pretty good now.

Thanks, I am feeling good emotionally. I got over a big hurdle I think, especially since no one held my hand when I got stuck. I will admit, though, that I did wear a Webkinz charm - a little black and white cat, for luck.

Physically I'm still a bit tired, but that's partially because I still had to take pics at a baseball game yesterday and didn't get to rest quite as much as I'd like to have. But, at least the game was over quickly, so as soon as I got home, I took a shower and went to bed.

another good thing about giving blood is that it takes fewer s to get one's blood alcohol level up afterwards.

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Thought about that myself as to why they probably suggest you don't drink alcohol for 24 hours (That and the dehydrating effect). But, later on this evening I got to have a small glass of wine margarita at a social event after work. It was good, kind of like a SweetTart, but I thought what if I did that yesterday... and then realized I'd probably actually been a bit drunk doing that. Never have been much of an alcohol drinker at all - even socially - except for wine tastings.

And, a few mentioned at their drives, and I realized today that before I went to the drive yesterday I bought exactly that: a small bag of M&M's. Thought that a bit odd until today.

oh I just saw that you were successful

You can donate every 56 days? Here in the UK you can only donate 3 or 4 (I can never remember which) times a year.

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You are eligible every 56 days here, but it depends on the donation you give. Platelets is every three days, but only twice a week, up to 24 times a year. If I had given double red blood cells, unlikely because it was my first donation in a long while, it'd been longer, about 115 days I think they said. Whole blood and a single red blood cells donation by apheresis like I did is 56.

There's another bonus as far as the area I donate in - they have a points program where you can redeem them for shirts, watches, coolers and other items. It's a nice incentive to donate as well, though this region's the only one I've seen across the state that has that type of reward program.

So they only take part of your blood? Here they take all of it, just over a pint a time, though there are specific platelet donations too.

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Well, yes and no. They do the whole blood as well as apheresis, which is separating it into parts and only taking certain parts of the blood. In this case, I did apheresis and they took only the red blood cells and plasma, returing the platelets and a solution that is to help store some of the fluids I lost. When I can get more information about it, I might do a journal entry because it might be available in other countries but people not know about it.

The plus side to this type of donation is that it's ready to use, as they don't have to break down the blood if someone just needed the plasma, platelets or cells. An apheresis donation also helps out more people than the average 3 for whole blood (I will do some research on this, but I believe an apheresis donation of platelets for example can help out five people). Also, the needle is smaller, so for those who don't like needles much their this might be more comfortable.

The downside is that it does take longer to donate (average is 30-45 minutes for the actual donation, took 25 for mine). Another downside, which I had listed already is that you do feel slightly cooler than you were before, but that's because of the solution that's put back into you. My case too, my donation hand shook quite a bit because I had it almost straight out on the armrest, as well as had to deal with the BP cuff that is also used in this procedure instead of the usual tourniquet.

I think looking at what they took out, I probably donated about a pint of plasma and a halfpint of red blood cells. Not sure if that's accurate or not, so please don't use me as a source. It's just something I'll have to ask the phlebotomist the next time I go take pics at a drive, since I'm not eligible again until April.

That's really interesting, thanks.