Comments on: DHS Student Looking for Blood Donation Anecdotes

By: FM Fats

FM Fats — Thu, 24 Jan 2013 01:53:54 +0000

In the late 70’s I used to occasionally give blood to a Knights of Columbus blood drive at St. Stephen’s of Hungary Church on E. 82nd Street between 1st and York Avenues. The Red Cross would hand out the obligatory Fig Newtons and OJ, but the church would get some ancient Hungarian ladies to cook up an incredible baked chicken dinner. More incredibly, there was an open bar. Most of the Knights would go straight from gurney to bar for a shot and a beer.

How’s that for a blood donation anecdote?

By: J_T

J_T — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 21:07:08 +0000

You had me at “rest of the day off.” When’s the next blood drive and what’s the earliest I can give?

By: Eric Npo

Eric Npo — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 20:38:06 +0000

The first time I gave blood, it was on my bike ride home from work, on a whim. The nurse, after looking at my veins, put on a strap to bring them out. When she returned, she exclaimed, “We have a squirter over here.” Thanks for the commentary. During the drawing, I started to feel woozy, got cold sweats and passed out in the chair briefly. Afterwards, I stuck around sipping juice and eating nutter butters for a bit.

The next time, I was ready. I drank a ton of Gatorade the day before, and had a decent sized bowl of oatmeal for breakfast. I rode into downtown (my daily commute from Decatur to Atlanta) and headed to the basement level of the Georgia Pacific building.

I informed the nurses of the problems from the last time and they assured me that they’d take it easy and watch over me. Drawing blood this time was a breeze, they drew it slowly for me. No wooziness, no cold sweats, no loss of consciousness. Afterwards, they had me stay in the bed for a minute, then sit up and when i was ready, I could go over to the snack table. As I noted, I was feeling like a million bucks, so presently I walked over to the snack table and grabbed some juice and a pack of Nutter Butters.

At this point, I started to feel a little wooziness setting in and put my head down in my hands. The next thing I know, I was staring up at six or seven people from the floor. I had passed out and tipped over forward, scraping my nose, lip and temple in what I imagine was at first a thunk, then a slow drag as my face slid across the office-style carpet.

One nurse was checking my pulse, saying “I can’t find anything, I can’t hear it”. To which I pathetically responded “I have a low resting heartbeat.”

EMT were called, and after about 20 minutes I was good enough to stand. My boss was called to pick me up. He ended up dropping me off with my wife, and I had the rest of the day off.

So, this may not be what you wanted to hear, but – NEVER AGAIN!!! Not even Nutter Butters can entice me.

By: Scooter

Scooter — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 23:27:14 +0000

I have a colleague who was a victim of the Buckhead shootings in 1999. She very nearly died, but survived, largely as a result of numerous transfusions. Today she speaks passionately — and very effectively — to groups to advocate for blood donations. I’ll give her your contact information and ask if she’ll contact you directly. Good luck.

By: David Harris

David Harris — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 21:27:08 +0000

acedotes –> anecdotes