When most people think of Vegans they immediately think of animals. That doesn’t mean that we don’t love our fellow man kind too! Though they can be a pain in the you know what from time to time! But none the less being a vegan should mean that we try to do the most good and the least harm. So that is why I am asking you to consider giving blood.
Blood is always in need and there is no other way to get it other then from donors. But maybe your scared or wonder how safe it is? Well I just gave blood today and will give you the run down on the experience as it was my first time! Now I vow to do it a few times a year.
So first I looked for a place to give blood. That can be done here. I had wanted to give blood for a while now but kept on missing my local drives at they ended before I got home from work. So I decided to find a place near work. The process did take the full hour of my lunch break so I would recommend finding somewhere close if you are under a time constraint.
So after I found a place I marked it on my calender and waited! It was two weeks away so I did some research. They say you should have a good dinner the night before and morning of if you will be giving at lunch. Basically make sure your two meals before giving blood are healthy meals. Drink lots of healthy fluids too (not sugary or cafinate ones) as you don’t want to get dehydrated. They take one pint of blood so you are losing fluids here. But don’t worry your body will replenish itself and your doing a great thing for someone. Keep in mind that different types of blood are harder to come by. You may have that rare blood that someone really needs! I for one have O- blood which means I can give to anyone but can only get O- myself. It really made me think that if I got hurt I would hope other O- had donated to get me well. Even if your blood is pretty common it just means it’s in even more demand as lots of people need it! Read here about different blood types.
So next part..I walked into my donating station. It happened to be in an office building that was across the street from mine. I walked in and they weren’t very busy, which was discouraging. They had been there all day and I was only number 32. Which means only 32 pints of blood. I’m not a doctor but I’m sure that is not a lot. The nurse had me read through some pamphlets, explaining about how they test your blood and if there is anything wrong with it they will let you know. It’s a little scary but always better to know these things. They also asked if I would be ok if my blood was used to help them study better ways to collect and store blood, which I was fine with. They show you a questionere that shows you various reasons why you may not be able to donate blood. After you’ve read everything you fill out a form with your information on it and then wait for your turn.
Everything is very private. When you get called the nurse brings you behind a curtain where your information is confidential and no one can hear the questions or answers. Things went pretty fast for me till they got to the travel questions. I had to list everywhere I had traveled in the last 3 years! So we were there for a while. Finally after she put all my data in I came up as elligible to donate. One last thing she pricked my finger to measure the iron in my blood to see if I could stand to lose a pint of blood. Then she walked me to the chair where I would donate.
The next person verified my name and rubbed my arm down with iodine (after asking if I was alergic to it). He put a blood pressure cuff on me and gave mt this little hand held foam thing that I had to squeeze. Then he marked off my vein and put the needle in. It really was only a small sting. Then he told me to squeeze the foam thing every five seconds and then open my hand. This was to help me pump the blood into the bag that was hanging below my chair. It was rather interesting watching the bag fill up with my dark almost marone colored blood. He said I pumped it out really fast (5 min) and said that it usually takes 15 min! Not sure what that means but oh well lol.
Then they removed the needle and had me raise my arm above my head. They put a bandage on it (neon green) and gave me some instructions on what to do it it bled later. (It didn’t bleed or bruise and I’m now on day 3 after giving blood). They told me to sit down and have some juice and cookies. I felt like a little kid sipping on grape juice and eating a nutter bar (actually was vegan!) I only sat there for about 5 min as I felt fine and had to get back to work.
I asked him if anyone had ever fainted and he said, oh yeah all the time! But a lot of that comes from dehydration or nerves. I didn’t feel any dizyness or lightheaded ness but I will say that when I walked up a small flight of stairs I was out of breath. I felt like this for about 3 hours so I drank lots of water when I got back to my desk. They said this is normal as you have lost some blood cells that help with oxygen production. They recommend you take it easy and don’t do any heavy lifting. I wore around a cute sticker that said, “take it easy on me, I just gave blood”.
Overall it was a very positive experience. I just imagine my blood going to someone that is in the hospital who really needs it and it makes me feel good that I could help someone else in that way. Supposedly you can give blood every 56 days. You can also donate platelets or do a double donation of red blood cells. In this procedure they don’t actually take all of your blood but filter your out some of your blood cells and give you back the blood.
Well I hope this has gotten you more comfortable with the idea of giving blood. There is a ton of information out there to educate you on the process and to answer any questions you may have.
Go go out there and find a place to donate! And help a fellow animal, mankind.
Well there just seems to be tons of independent movies coming out on better nutrition and animal rights and 
