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Tuesday, November 20, 2007

A Bloody Good Day

It sure was! Today I donated blood for the first time in more than twenty years!

Magen David Adom came to my workplace and set up a room for donating blood. The last time that I gave blood, over twenty years ago, I felt sick. I was slim back then, and weighed about 130 pounds. I decided that giving blood is not for me.

Times have changed. I'm about twenty pounds heavier now, and I decided that I should give donating blood another try. I prepared myself, eating a good meal about an hour before they stuck the needle in my vein. Before you give blood here you have to fill out a questionnaire. They want to know if you are on medication, if you have certain diseases, if you got a tattoo, and if you keep Leviticus Chapter 18, among other things. They don't accept blood from just anybody.

Giving blood is a great mitzvah, although I must admit that my intentions were not entirely altruistic. When you give blood you and your family are insured for one year that if you need blood from the blood bank you get it.

3 comments:

Soccer Dad said...

You've only gained 20 pounds in 20 years. Wow! I'm impressed.

And if you ever can spare the time giving platelets, aphyresis is a worthwhile endeavor. (The problem is that it is a 2 hour process.)

Cosmic X said...

I sure wish I could get rid of about15 of those pounds!

Batya said...

I haven't given for a few years. I never had bad reactions, since underweight and undereating aren't problems by me, to say the least.
One year here in Shiloh, one of the "big tough guys" gave and promptly fainted. He hadn't eaten all day.

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