I bled today…on purpose. The Red Cross makes it easy to donate and I made a habit of it back in college. My dad has been donate for years, well over 200 donations, and I am trying to catch up.
Today was uneventful, like most of them. I’ve had a problem or two over the years, mostly some lightheadedness, but usually it smooth sailing.
One of my favorite parts is the snacks afterwards. At UW-Madison, there was a Red Cross donation center in the student union which was right across from the Engineering Building where I spent most of my time. It was staffed by middle-aged nurses. Looking back, my college-aged eyes were not very good at guessing people’s ages so I guess I can’t say for sure.
But the best part was that they would bring in home baked cookies as the snacks. What college student (from the early 80s) would turn down homemade cookies? Certainly not me. Drinks were water or grape juice out of a big jug. I donated all five years at college (yeah, yeah, it was Engineering, ok?).
Today it is all prepackaged snacks and tiny juice boxes (and those damn straws), but there are still some that I only get when I donate so it is special. The check-in person today told me I could grab a snack while I was waiting. I told him that was against the rules because I hadn’t earned it yet.
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One response to “I bled today”
What I recall from my first experiences of blood donation back in 1953 was the egg salad sandwiches they offered after donation. Freshly made nice and gooey served on Wonder Bread! Doesn’t get much better than that.
That was so far back that the blood was collected in glass containers and you were not supposed to eat for a couple hours before donation. For those not familiar with modern collection methods, now they offer fruit juice and cookies before donation if desired, as well as after.
I’m glad John was influenced by his Dad. He certainly made a good influence in that area. And the actual total his Dad gave over a lifetime was 239 “units” of blood, about a pint. That’s almost 30 gallons.