Giving

22 Dec 2006

One thing I like to do, something that's very me, is give blood every month. My grandparents donated, my folks donate and my siblings donate so it's pretty much the done thing in my family. We're not much for charity stuff, so I guess giving blood is our karmic effort.

I've been donating since I first could (at 18) and while I couldn't tell you how many pints I've handed over in 3 continents and more than a decade, locally I just hit the 25 mark. I got a pen for my troubles. But I'm not in it for the fame, or the money (never actually sold my blood thank you) I'm just fine with the free tea & biscuits - or beer. (Ireland has a 1:1 exchange rate for blood:Guinness!)

If you're not squeamish about needles, giving whole blood is piss-easy and pretty quick (5-10 minutes). If you're up for the seriously big needles and endurance stuff you've got plasma donations at about 30+ minutes or platelets at about an hour and a half. They take longer because they cycle your blood in and out of you (yes, they draw and return it multiple times) in a process called Apheresis that has you hooked up to a centrifuge which separates out the plasma/platelets and returns the remainder of the blood to you. - These days I usually give plasma, which is what I'm doing here.

I debated on whether to post this shot or another which was more 'in your face' shot. So for the curious, click here.

[edit 09/03/07 :: submitted to Photo Friday Addiction.
I don't have a shot with a syringe in my arm, but this is equally confronting. And for any doubters on the connection with donating blood and 'addiction', like I said above, 3 continents and 10+ years of a monthly habit... that's pretty close to addiction in my book! ]

Get your October 08 Detour calendar here. and your November 08 calendar here.
Now endorsed by my mum: "I love it!" she said.