Give Blood

We hosted a Blood Drive at work yesterday. I had never given blood before, but know how important it is for groups like the Michigan Community Blood Center and American Red Cross to have adequate blood supplies. I like the thought of spending 30-40 minutes doing something so simple yet it can go a long way in helping to save someone's life.

I signed up to donate at 4:00pm. I entered the Blood Mobile right on time and was immediately given a donor form and a pen. That was followed by another form with 17 questions regarding where I've been and what I've done over the past few years. I was instructed to answer these questions by coloring the dot, completely, next to my answers. Answer the first 17, but do not proceed further until instructed to do so I was told. "Wow", I thought. This is a very strict operation. I guess that's good given the fact blood it a pretty important part of daily life. These questions didn't require much thought and I breezed through the majority of them. I did have to slow down, however, when getting to the consecutive questions regarding pregnancy. Not because I didn't know the answers, but rather, I spent a considerable amount of time wondering if the questions really had to be worded this way, and if so, why? Who in the past has screwed these up?The first question asked "Have you been pregnant in the past 8 weeks?". In parenthesis next to the question were the words "Men answer No". Then, the next question said "Have you ever been pregnant?" and again "Men answer No." Are you kidding me? Did some guy really mark one, or both, of those questions yes? Let me guess. It's one of those guys who, when his wife gets pregnant, runs around telling everyone "WE'RE pregnant!!". The same guy who will stay at home when his wife hosts a Lia Sophia party "just to see what's new." If you're a male, and you answer yes to one or both of those questions, you should be kicked out of the Blood Mobile on grounds of pure stupidity. If not, your blood could go to a perfectly intelligent person.

After completing the first 17 questions I was told to take my clipboard and questionaire and wait in "the room". This room is one of two in the back of the Blood Mobile where they check your blood type, take your temperature, check your blood pressure, and help you complete the last 8 questions that you are off limits from answering until entering "the room" and being instructed to proceed. This room is roughly the size of the old phone booths and I took up most of the space on my own. I didn't see how another person was going to fit in there with me.I sat alone in the room, just me and my thoughts, for roughly 10 minutes or so. Looking around the room I noticed a laminated card hanging on the wall. This card had the remaining 8 questions listed just as they were on my sheet. The card indicated these questions were related to HIV and sexual history. I wondered why I couldn't just answer those with the other 17, but figured there was some good reason and I'd be finding that out shortly. I knew I had at least one question of my own and couldn't stop thinking about how some guy marked that he had been pregnant.

I glanced onto the main floor and watched other donors in action. Not really in action, I guess, as there's not much to do except lay there and wait. Nobody looked uncomfortable or in any type of pain so I wasn't nervous about my first time donating. My thought of "how could that idiot say he had been pregnant?" was broken by a pleasant "hello" from a woman named Mary. She entered "the room" and said down next to me explaining she would be checking my blood and helping me complete my questionaire. She stuck my finger, collected a small blood sample, and while waiting for the readout she checked my temperature and blood pressure. Upon completion she slid my questionaire in front of her and quickly scanned my answers. There was one question related to recent exposure to a contagious disease, in which I had answered yes, and Mary wanted to know the scoop. I told her my wife had recently been diagnosed with Swine Flu. With that, Mary reached down under the small table and consulted a manual to determine what to do next. I was surprised she didn't immediately know what to do as the Swine Flu is relatively serious and not really all that knew to the area. Whatever she read in the manual didn't convince her it was okay for me to proceed so she called a woman named Patty into the room.Keep in mind, as I mentioned before, this room is really only big enough for me. With me and Mary in the room it is very tight quarters. Now, for confidentiality reasons, Patty is going to join us and close the door behind her. If you've ever been in an elevator packed with people you know well the uncomfortable silence that makes a 15 second ride feel like forever. Shrink that elevator space down to the size of a phone booth, put a guy who's 6 feet tall and a million pounds in it, and add a couple of women who are complete strangers....that, my friends, creates the epitome of uncomfortable silence.

Mary informed Patty I had been exposed to the Swine Flu. Patty immediately backed into the door and opened it as if Mary had said I had Bubonic Plague. Getting over her initial shock Patty came back into the room and again closed the door behind her. Patty asked me if my wife and I had shared a sandwich. In a nervous moment, gut reaction, I said "Ever?". Patty looked at me like she was thinking I had probably marked "yes" to the pregnancy question. She explained that she meant to ask if we had shared a sandwich while my wife had the Swine Flu. I'm not exactly sure why anyone would do that, but I just confirmed to her that we had not shared any food or drink since she was diagnosed. Following a brief conversation it was decided those that were exposed to Swine Flu were treated the same as those exposed to the "regular" flu and that meant I could proceed with donating, but I had to call them immediately if I developed symptoms.

Mary informed me she would be helping me with the final 8 questions and she removed the laminated card from the wall. She told me she would be reading the questions and then I was to mark my yes or no answer on the sheet. Mary began reading the questions quickly and I was having a tough time keeping up because I'm very anal and each dot had to be completely filled in before I could move on to the next question. Unfortunately, along with being anal, I neglected to buy Evelyn Wood's speed reading course when I had the chance and I was falling further and further behind as Mary blew threw the questions. As you can imagine, questions intended to determine your risk of having the HIV virus are quite personal. Although my answer to each one was a resounding NO...as indicated by the dark black, completely filled in, ink breaking through the bottom of the paper mark next to each of the eight questions it was very uncomfortable to have a complete stranger ask these questions of you out loud. I marked my last answer, well after Mary had read the questions, and I posed a couple of questions of my own. The first was, "Mary, why did you have to read those questions to me? They're right here on the paper and I could just read them myself and mark the answers." Mary said it's their policy because those questions, depending on how they are answered, could require more in depth conversation. As if this whole process doesn't present enough uncomfortable situations. My second question was "Mary, did some guy really answer yes to the pregnancy question?" Mary informed me there had been more than one. Unbelievable.

Questions completed, uncomfortable silence now a thing of the past, I was led to a bed and given a small bottle of water. Now Kathy was rolling up the sleeve on my left arm and looking to find a good vein. She was rubbing, tapping, and sighing with frustration as no good vein could be found. After a few minutes she decided it was best to try my right arm instead. Finding a "great vein" she wiped a couple of different liquids on my arm, rigged the collection bag and clamp, and proceeded to stick me. I thought I was underway, but it soon became apparent that although I had a needle stuck in my arm no blood was flowing into the collection bag. Kathy apologized several times and said we needed to switch back to the original bed and try the left arm. Kathy applied the rubber strap tourniquet, started rubbing and tapping again, and oohed and ahhed at the vein she had found. She called Mary over to see what she thought. At this point, I have two women whom I've never met, rubbing my arm and oohing and ahhing at a vein they've found. My assumption that all uncomfortable moments were behind me was now proven false. I could feel my face turning red and began to wonder why I signed up for this in the first place.

Finally, Kathy was successful in getting the needle into the perfect position and blood flow was underway. She would stop by every couple of minutes to see how I was doing and each time she'd apologize for having to stick both arms. She knew I was a "first timer" and felt bad that it had gone the way it did. After 10 or 15 minutes Kathy informed me I was almost done. She told me that I could donate again in 8 weeks if I wanted to. I wondered if regular donors still had to answer all of the questions. The actual process of donating blood is a piece of cake, but I'm not that excited about being in that tight space again with complete strangers asking me very personal questions.

After being un-clamped, needle removed, and band aid applied I was told to move to the front of the Blood Mobile for a glass of juice and some cookies. I sat down and opened the bottle of water I was given earlier. Mary came to the front and threw me a t-shirt. "Here." She said. "We want you to have this for being such a good sport your first time." I thanked her and asked if I was okay to leave. She asked me how I felt. I knew she was asking if I physically felt fine after donating a pint of blood, but I wanted to be honest. I wanted to tell her that yes, physically I felt fine. Mentally, not so much. I'll probably have nightmares about becoming pregnant. Or, I'll have recurring dreams about sharing lunch with my wife and developing Bubonic Plague.

I exited the Blood Mobile thinking about how bizarre some of that experience was. At the same time, I felt good about what I had done. Hopefully, my donation makes a difference in someone's life down the road. If so, the uncomfortable silence will speak volumes.