It's In You To Give?

Today was a relatively busy day as it started with 5 hours of meetings, back to back. Nothing really that exciting. Then in the evening, Trybaby, Cybernite and I went to Canadian Blood Services to donate blood. Trybaby had made an appointment last week to donate blood, so we decided to tag along with him and donate blood as well. Cybernite had forgotten to make an appointment, so I said she could take mine. Trybaby went through the process almost entirely before we found out that Cybernite couldn't donate because the acceptable hemoglobin level in her blood was off by .1, whatever that even means. You'd think when they are operating at 60% of what they REALLY need to save lives, they would put aside the standard just a bit, especially when we had been told by a nurse there that really this hemoglobin number was no big deal. Anyhow, I decided to suck it up and donate blood in lieu of Cybernite.

Now, I should probably mention, I am petrified of needles. I don't even like acknowledging the fact that I have organs, veins, or blood. I really just wanted to get the entire experience over with as quickly as possible, but before you donate blood in Canada you have to go through a rigid screening process. First, they pricked my fingertip to check my glucose. Apparently I passed this test with no problem, so they then made me fill out a questionnaire with about 30 questions. The questions were an interesting mix of interrogation on what drugs I took or didn't take, who I did or didn't have sex with, and what countries I had or hadn't been to/lived in/had sex in/had blood transfusions in. After filling this out, I had to go to another screening room, where they took my blood pressure and temperature, and then asked me tons of really awkward questions. The MOST awkward thing of all, however, was when they checked my arms for IV drug use. I had a scar on my wrist from an incident with a razor a while back, and the woman thought it was some sort of drug related scar. She had me then tell her where it was from, and recorded the scar on the paper. I think that is insane. It annoyed me to no end.

By the time I finally was ready to give blood, I was insanely irritated. How many times do they have to ask you if you have HIV/AIDS? Seriously. To top off my annoyance, after they took the blood and I was ready to recover, they brought me to the refreshment room which was full of trans fat, processed food, and sugar. The "alternative food option" was fricken Bits and Bites, which are loaded with fat and sodium. It was sick. A vegan person would just have been held prisoner there forever until they ate, because nothing was even remotely vegan. Have these people not heard of fruit? Seriously.

Honestly, I was hesitant to donate blood in the first place, because in Canada they don't let homosexual men donate blood. This is ridiculous, even from the perspective of organizations like the British Columbia Persons With Aids Society... according to stats, women shouldn't be able to give blood either. Basically they should only take blood from lesbians, virgins, and straight men. Sounds like some sort of sacrifice...But really, NOT donating blood in the mindset of a protest or boycott really doesn't punish Canadian Blood Services; it really only punishes people who need blood to save their lives. Canadian Blood Services may annoy me, but it's probably a small price to pay knowing that I will be saving a few people's lives with my untainted lesbian blood (tee hee).

Anyhow, it wasn't such a terrible experience after all. I was pissed at first about the IV drug use/scar association, and was terribly pissed that I had to eat Bits and Bites, but then I came home and discovered you lose 650 calories when you donate blood. So I had hot chocolate with TONS of whipped cream.