My Blood

MY BLOOD
By Curtis Johnson

A motorized blood bank came to our church today, and I decided to donate blood.
I don't know if her needle was too soft or whether my skin was too tough, but the first lady that attended to me in the mobilized blood bank initially had difficulty in pricking my fingers for blood. She apologized for having to poke me more than once. As she continued, she said to me that my gift of blood would be saving two lives, and I was happy about that. She finally was able to get a small amount of blood for her preliminary test. She then took my blood pressure and said that I had a good reading, and I was happy about that too. The first phase was over, and off to the next step I went.

I was led to a reclining seat and asked about my food intake for the day. It was then about 12: 45PM, and I indicated to her that I had only consumed coffee up to that point. That fact appeared to not be good, and I was not happy about that. She then gave me a bottle of water to drink. After the water intake, apparently she was ready to draw a pint of blood from my body.

She then gave me an object to squeeze to put pressure on my blood vessels. There-after, she fitted the needle on my arm and put it into my vessel to draw blood. The blood drawing for 1 pint had begun, which took 6 minutes. As she performed these tasks, I became inquisitive and had two questions for her.

My first question pertained to the quantity of blood in my body. She informed me that there is 1 pint of blood for every 10 lbs. , which means I should have about 17 pints of blood in my body. As the blood was being drawn from my body, I then suggested that I might be a slow bleeder, not having a clue about what rate the blood should exit the body. She then said to me, “No, actually you are a fast bleeder”. Her tone indicated that such rate was also good, and I was happy about that. There were no more questions from me, except that I needed clarification on something she said as she was giving me some final instructions before leaving.

She repeated to me the instruction that, in order for my 1 pint of blood to be built back up in my body, I should not miss any meals. I understood her, and 8 days later as write this story, I am doing just fine.

I do not remember the pastor's sermon, nor do I have any notes of the service today. But I did learn a few things today about me and my blood, as a result of my blood donation.
Cj08062015 (This happened about two years ago)

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