give blood, give life

Today was a blood donation day.

This was my 29th blood donation since starting regular donations again in July 2013 at the Stanford Blood Center. 29 pints is 3.625 gallons of blood. That is a lot of blood! A friend of mine posted about doing a double red blood cell donation recently and I am wondering if I should switch to that. I am somewhat intimidated by the longer (more painful?) process, but the person doing my health check-in today told me that each time a person receives a transfusion, there is a chance that their body will react badly and that it is a benefit to them to get two sets of packed cells from one person. I also learned that they never use my plasma because I have been pregnant in the past, so donating just the packed cells sort of makes sense.

Food for thought! But today, I gave one pint of blood and got one chocolate cookie out of the deal.

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it’s good to give

I gave blood today. This was my 24th donation since I started donating regularly in 2013. That’s three gallons! I give blood because I am able and because I know there are many people who aren’t able for a variety of reasons, whether they are health related or due to their life history (like my husband who grew up in Europe).

I give at the Stanford Blood Center. I would urge you to donate if you are able. You get free cookies when you are done.