All Things Woompty

Well, I'm not smart enough to cure cancer so this will have to do

"We should go give blood this weekend," I said. "They need extra blood during the holidays. Because of the Stupid People Car Accidents."

"Okay," he said. "Let's go give blood."

And so off we went to give blood.

I hadn't been in to give blood for a couple years (a colposcopy, a wedding, a couple surgeries, and a trip to a malaria zone had waylaid me) and Kevin had never given blood. Dude doesn't even know his blood type.

And he still doesn't know his blood type because they rejected him. They rejected him because back in October, he ended up with this really crazy ass case of blepharitis that left him with this giant monster eye. Curing it involved a ton of Keflex and antibiotic eye goop, and it is still not quite done healing; the draining from your eye is amazingly slow, who knew? So they rejected him since to the blood bank draining=active infection.

But they gladly took me and my O+ blood and my Super Good Veins (seriously, my arms are a phlebotomist's wet dream....every time I get blood drawn, they get the vapors). I told Kevin it had never taken me more than 10 minutes to fill a pint, so he wouldn't have to wait long. The nurse told me the record for donors that she's taken care of was 4 minutes.

I clocked in at 6 minutes start to finish. Damn. I gotta squeeze the squishy ball faster next time.

So now I am filled with warm fuzzies, knowing I donated blood that could help people like Mo Pie's nephew and Weetabix's husband stay alive, awake, alert and enthusiastic. And I'm already signed up for an appointment in February!

And now it's your turn! Think of it as a Gift To Humanity. The fuzzies'll totally warm you up this winter. Seriously.

posted by Melinda @ 9:03 PM